Biography
Sarah Catherine Wood was born on September 27, 1914, in Johnson City, Tennessee. Her father was a Presbyterian minister and her mother a teacher. She grew up in the mountains of West Virginia and Tennessee and in the small towns where her father served. She loved books from childhood and was a bright and imaginative girl. She studied at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, where she became a careful writer.
In 1936 she married Peter Marshall, a young Scottish-born Presbyterian minister who was then serving a church in Atlanta. He soon became pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., and in 1947 he was chosen chaplain of the United States Senate. He was a gifted preacher with a deep voice and a warm manner. The couple had a son, Peter John. Catherine was a partner in his work, and she was a source of strength.
In 1943 she was struck by tuberculosis and spent several months in bed in a sanatorium. It was a time of crisis. She prayed for healing, and she grew impatient. A turning point came when she gave up her will to God, praying that she would accept whatever He willed. She later called this a prayer of relinquishment. Not long after, she began to recover. She wrote that the experience had taught her that surrender must come before blessing. This idea became a central theme in her later writing.
In January 1949 Peter Marshall died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of forty-six. Catherine was left a widow at thirty-four, with a young son. The loss was heavy, and she struggled with grief. She turned to writing as a way to honor him. She edited his sermons and prayers into a book, and in 1951 she published A Man Called Peter, the story of her husband's life. It became a best seller and was made into a film. She was soon one of the most widely read Christian authors in America.
She continued to write on the spiritual life. Her books include Beyond Ourselves, in which she described her own growth in faith, and Something More, on the search for a deeper life in God. In 1967 she published Christy, a novel based on the life of her mother, who had served as a teacher in the Appalachian mountains. It became hugely popular and was later made into a television series. She also wrote on the work of the Holy Spirit and on the practice of prayer.
She married Leonard LeSourd, an editor, in 1959. They worked together in publishing and had a long and fruitful partnership. She also faced her share of difficulties. Her son had trouble in his youth, and her books were not always well received by critics. Some Christians thought her stress on the Spirit went too far, while others thought that she was too careful. She wrote with candor of her struggles and doubts.
She died on March 18, 1983, in Boynton Beach, Florida, at the age of sixty-eight. Her books have sold in the millions. Her life shows how a person can find strength in sorrow and carry others through the pain that she herself has known.