Marshall Applewhite

Marshall Herff Applewhite, Jr. (May 17, 1931 – March 26, 1997), known among his followers as "Do" (pronounced "doe"), was the leader of the Heaven's Gate religious group. A self-proclaimed prophet and messiah, he died in the group's mass suicide of 1997. Marshall Herff Applewhite, Jr. was born in Spur, Texas to Louise Haecker Winfield and Marshall Herff Applewhite, Sr. He had two older sisters, Louise, born 1927, and Jane born 1929 as well as a brother, John Winfield born 1942. Applewhite's father was a Presbyterian minister who started new churches and moved from place to place in Texas about every three years. Applewhite hoped to follow in his father's footsteps and become a preacher as well, but his sister and father encouraged him...