Karen E. Dunleavy, 69, of Bedford, formerly of Billerica, died on February 3, 2026.

Karen was raised in Bedford and was a member of the Bedford High School Class of 1974. While at BHS, she demanded she be enrolled in woodworking class alongside the boys since she was already confident in her cooking and sewing skills. This helped to pave the way for the program to later become co-educational.

She attended Fitchburg State College for two years, studying early childhood education, and later returned to school at Tufts University, where she pursued biomedical engineering.

Karen spent most of her career in the life sciences industry. She began her professional career at Grace Biomedical, designing and fabricating novel ultrafiltration membranes, and was the co-inventor on several U.S. and international patents for extrusion equipment, techniques, and device designs. She later worked at Millipore as a Lab Technician and Corporate Shelf-Life Program Coordinator, at Medtronic as a Senior Quality Assurance Technician, and finally at Cytonome as Senior Lab Technician.

Karen was deeply artistic and extremely creative. She loved making floral arrangements and jewelry, gardening, and baking. She had a talent for seeing potential where others didn't, often rescuing discarded furniture from the side of the road and transforming it into something beautiful. She was kind and had a very big heart and was always thinking about ways to help others.

Karen was fiercely independent and instilled that same strength and self-reliance in her daughters.

She is survived by her mother, Judith Cassidy of Billerica; her daughters, Taylor Dunleavy and her husband Mike Berggren of Dracut, and Meagan Dunleavy-Powell and her husband Alex; her former husband, Mathew Dunleavy; her sisters, Nancy Catino of New Hampshire, Susan Lombardini of Billerica, and Brenda Eunson of Naples, Florida; her dear friends, Susan Robichaud and Patrice Ficociello; and many beloved nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be held at the Bedford Funeral Home, 167 Great Rd., on Wednesday, February 11, from 4:00-7:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Smart Recovery or She Recovers Foundation