OWLS HEAD — Linda Knowlton Stanley, 64, died surrounded by her family, Nov. 22, 2013, at Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport, following a brief but gallant battle against cancer.

Born in Rockland April 5, 1949, she was one of eight children of David O. 1st and Margaret N. Everett Knowlton. Educated in local schools, she was a 1967 graduate of Rockland High School.

On Aug. 11, 1968, she married Arthur B. Stanley Jr. at Rockland Congregational Church.

For more than 35 years Linda was a business partner in Art's Marine Service in Owls Head. While active in the operation of that business, Linda considered her primary vocation that of homemaker and mother. She devoted herself to the care and upbringing of her children. Linda always found ways to express her loving, nurturing spirit to her children, which included her nieces, Valarie and Kimberly, as well as everyone else's kids. Her nieces and nephews affectionately referred to her as "Crazy Aunt Linda."

For many years she took great joy in painting the rock on their front lawn with a theme appropriate to the season or holiday, to the excitement and enjoyment of all who drove by.

Anyone who judged Linda by her diminutive size, would soon find she had a supersized spirit that made her stand up for what she believed in.

She loved nature, birds, living on the edge, laughing and making others laugh. This was made evident by her sense of humor during her last days in the hospital that kept the nurses laughing as well.

Linda was a longtime member of the Winslow-Holbrook-Merritt American Legion Post No. 1 in Rockland.

She enjoyed a life-long friendship with "Aunt" Gail Elliott and Jeanne Pipicello, both of Owls Head.

Other than her parents, Linda was predeceased by two sisters, Marion Robbins and Barbara Deabler; as well as one brother, David O. Knowlton II. Other than her husband, Linda is survived by two daughters, Sherry Stanley and her husband, Michael Keating, and Michelle Stanley, all of Owls Head; four sisters, Betty Curtis and her husband, Oliver, of Owls Head, Judy McCoy and her husband, William, of Belmont, N.H., Joanne Lafrance of Warren and Brenda Kaler and her husband, Greg, of South Thomaston; one granddaughter, Shelby Lynn Stanley Keating; as well as many nieces, nephews and cousins.

A celebration of Linda's life will be held Tuesday, Dec. 3, at 6 p.m. at Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home in Rockland. A ­party, per Linda's directive, will follow at her home. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the charity of one’s choice.