Katherine Ainslie, 52, died Feb. 26 at her home in Lofall.

She was born Sept. 1, 1953, in Arlington, Va., to Emily and Robert Ainslie. She was raised mostly in South Orange, N.J., where she graduated high school.

She became a dedicated student of transcendental meditation and actively pursued advanced education in the discipline in both New York and California.

In 1976, she moved to Bainbridge Island, where she met Baker Stocking and married him in 1980.

While living here she pursued further spiritual studies with the Church of Divine Man in Seattle, where she became an ordained minister and a teacher.

During the mid-1980s, she taught classes in meditation and spiritual healing in her home on Marrowstone Island.

She also became a spiritual counselor, sought out by many throughout the remainder of her life.

She loved children and animals and was a committed advocate for both. She also enjoyed gardening, cooking and art, as well as boating and camping with her husband.

She is survived by her husband and his family, and her five siblings and their families: sisters Ann (Jay) Kaczmarowski of Mechanicsburg, Pa., and Jean (Bill) Richardson of Scituate, Mass.; brothers Malcolm and Andrew Ainslie, both of South Orange, N.J., and Bob (Mary) Ainslie of Kingsport, Tenn.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. April 8 in the Log Hall at Kitsap Memorial Park, as part of an all-day gathering there, a celebration of life and spirit in her honor.

Donations may be sent to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, www.nmss.org, or to her church, www.c-d-m.org.