CULT'S LEADER BEGAN AS MUSIC TEACHER : REMARKS.

Byline: Frank Bruni The New York Times

Before he began his mission as an extraterrestrial shepherd to lead the chosen aboard a spaceship into eternity, Marshall Herff Applewhite lived an apparently unremarkable life in Houston as a music professor who nurtured the choir at his Episcopal church.

That was in the early 1970s, and people who knew him then said they saw no omens of the zealot Applewhite would become. But for reasons that were unclear, and with a suddenness that was equally mystifying, he was seemingly transformed into someone else from 1972 to 1975, a budding cult leader with beliefs in aliens and Armageddon.

Applewhite and a female companion, refashioning themselves first as Bo and Peep, and later as Do and Ti, set off on a nomadic adventure through the Midwest and West, preaching their unorthodox gospel and beckoning people to prepare with them for an ascent into the stars.

And it was that journey that apparently led to what happened inside a million-dollar house in Rancho Santa Fe, where the bodies of 39 cult members, who had committed suicide, were found Wednesday.

Late on Thursday, the authorities determined that the body of Applewhite, 65, was among those recovered from the house.

There seems to be little question that the people inside the house were disciples of Applewhite's preachings, which were accessible on the Internet and were being actively spread in public lectures by his followers as recently as last year, according to one writer who has done extensive research on Applewhite and his cult.

``He went underground for a long time, but then in the last two years, posters for his group began appearing in cities where New Age stuff was prominent,'' said the writer, Peter Klebnikov, who is researching a book on doomsday cults.

According to various newspaper and magazine articles written about Applewhite, his father was a Presbyterian minister, and Applewhite studied to become a minister but then switched his focus to music. He received a master's degree in music from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1969.

At some point, he married and had two children, Klebnikov said. Applewhite also went to Alabama and taught music at the University of Alabama, published reports said.

But by 1971, he had apparently divorced his wife, left his family, and moved to Texas, which may have been his birth place. Tom Crow, an organist at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Houston, where Applewhite worked from 1971 to 1972, said Thursday that he believed that Applewhite had been raised near Corpus Christi.

In Houston, Applewhite worked for several years as a music professor at St. Thomas University and sang 15 roles with the Houston Grand Opera, said a New York Times Magazine profile of him and his group that was published in February 1976. He also directed the choir at St. Mark's.

In 1972, Applewhite, then about 40, met a nurse named Bonnie Lu Nettles, then 44, and the two discovered a mutual interest in astrology and reincarnation and came to the belief that they were the earthly incarnations of aliens.

In materials put on the Internet by the Heaven's Gate group named in the mass suicide, this is a version of what happened:

``In the early 1970s, two members of the Kingdom of Heaven (or what some might call two aliens from space) incarnated into two unsuspecting humans in Houston. The registered nurse was happily married with four children, worked in the nursery of a local hospital, and enjoyed a small astrology practice. The music professor, who had lived with a male companion for some years, was contentedly involved in cultural and academic activities.''

In August 1974, they were arrested in Harlingen, Texas, on charges of stealing credit cards and a car, according to the published magazine profile of Applewhite.

Both that article and the cult's own Internet materials said the credit cards belonged to the husband of a woman who had left home to join Bo and Peep. The Internet materials said Applewhite was extradited to St. Louis, from which the car had been stolen, but the authorities there could not provide details about the disposition of the case late Thursday.

``It seemed to be a group decision. It was very planned, sort of immaculately carried out.''

- Dr. Brian Blackbourne,

San Diego County medical examiner 

``By the time you receive this, we'll be gone - several dozen of us.''

- Strawcutter,

reading from a letter that accompanied the videotapes. Strawcutter operates an unlicensed radio station that features commentary about alleged government cover-ups and media conspiracies.

``Maybe they're crazy for all I know but I don't have any choice but to go for it because I've been on this planet for 31 years and there's nothing here for me.''

- An unidentified woman on one of the videotapes, in her apparent farewell.

``The individuals at the core of our group have worked closely together for over 20 years. . . . We try to stay positive in every circumstance and put the good of a project above any personal concerns or artistic egos.''

- Higher Source World Wide Web site.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, box

PHOTO (1) San Diego and Los Angeles county medical personnel load some of the 39 bodies found at a Rancho Santa Fe mansion Wednesday.

(2) Landlord Sam Koutchesfahani is hugged by a friend while speaking to police.

Associated Press

Box: Remarks (see text)