A Man Called Peter

As a boy growing up in Coatbridge, Scotland, Peter Marshall loves the sea and dreams of a life at sea. A fog-bound accident later in life pushes him toward the ministry, a calling that reshapes his path forever. He carries a fierce work ethic, taking on double shifts to save enough money to study in America, and then again to fund divinity school. After graduation, he is called to serve as pastor at a rural church in Covington, Georgia.

His sermons begin to draw people from far and wide, drawn by a message that resonates across class and creed. Catherine Wood, a local student from Agnes Scott College, falls in love with him at first hearing, her admiration deepened when she helps him at a college event, delivering an extemporaneous speech that quotes his own sermons. The couple marries, and their honeymoon spans an ocean voyage and a fishing trip, though Catherine experiences seasickness and declines boarding a fishing boat.

Back in Washington, D.C., he accepts a call to serve as pastor at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. His open and welcoming approach—inviting people from all walks of life—meets resistance from a local church snob, but the services rapidly grow beyond expectations, attracting worshippers from diverse backgrounds.

Their son, Peter John Marshall, is born on the morning of December 7, 1941. That same day, as Pearl Harbor is attacked, he preaches at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis and shifts his sermon to address death and eternal life, describing it as a sleep from which you wake in the room where you belong.

Catherine contracts tuberculosis and becomes bedridden. She listens to his sermon about a woman healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ robes. When Peter returns home, Catherine has risen from her bed and walked down the stairs for the first time in three years.

The family buys a vacation home in Cape Cod. Peter takes his son fishing, but Catherine declines to go on the water. Upon a later return, Peter falls ill while preaching, suffering a coronary thrombosis. After a period of rest, he resumes preaching and later accepts an appointment as Chaplain of the United States Senate. One night, Peter wakes Catherine, saying he is in pain. As an ambulance arrives, she asks to accompany him, but he asks her to stay with their son, promising they will see each other in the morning. The hospital eventually calls to report that Peter has died. That summer, Catherine takes their son back to the cottage at Cape Cod, where he longs to go out on the boat, and she chooses to get in the boat with him so he is not alone.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:26