Carmen M.P. McKillop, age 87, a long-time Bainbridge resident, died June 7 at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle.

Born Aug. 5, 1915 in Victoria, B.C. to John Henry and Sarah Alyce Higgins, she became a U.S. citizen in 1937, and moved to the island in 1948 with her husband A.A. “Mack” McKillop.

Their small waterfront house on Eagle Harbor reflected her avid interest in art, nature, literature and music. Full of books, classical records, dried plants, local and exotic seashells and strange sea creatures floating in formaldehyde, it served as an informal tearoom and salon for book lovers.

Although she refused to own a television set, and spoke mostly about her passions, the house was a popular hangout for the teenage friends of her two sons.

She was an accomplished amateur biologist, and after some hesitancy on the part of the Kitsap Boy Scout Council, served as a merit badge counselor for nature-related badges, the first woman to do so.

In the 1950s she stopped a local gun club’s all-island raccoon hunt by publishing a biting satire of the project in the Review. Twenty years later the house on Eagle Harbor became the center for a small group of people fighting the dredging of the harbor for a boat basin. They were successful.

In 1994, 23 years after the death of her husband, she sold the house and moved to a condominium on the harbor. The condo quickly took on the appearance of the old house — books, records and teacups everywhere — with the exception of the sea creatures, which were banished to storage.

In the late 1950s, she joined St. Barnabas Church; there she started the substantial parish library and became its first librarian. She also ran the St. Barnabas annual book sale, a continuing tradition.

During this time her interest in religion deepened and she became a member of the Order of the Holy Spirit, based in New York.

She is survived by her eldest son, John McKillop of Seattle, and her three grandchildren, Scott, Victoria and Nicole, all of Seattle.

Services will be at 2 p.m. June 20 at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. Remembrances can be made to the church, or to the American Diabetes Foundation, Memorial and Honor Program, P.O. BOX 2680, North Canton, OH 44720.

Arrangements are under the direction of Kass Funeral Home.