Piety, obedience and gratitude: these are the virtues that come to mind when I think of our dear Fr Peter.

Peter was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1928. His father, who worked as a sign writer, died when Peter was just five years old. As the Depression was causing great hardship, his mother decided to return with Peter and his nine-year-old sister to her family in Glasgow. She opened a shop in the Cowcaddens, a working-class area near the centre of the city. Peter was always proud of his American citizenship and retained his US passport, though not the corresponding accent, throughout his life.

Peter started primary school at St Joseph's, just across the road from the parish church. In a short memoir composed while he was in Battersea, he writes: "slipping in for a short visit was so very natural". He became an altar server and a member of the parish Scout troop. These· gave him the opportunity to learn some Latin, develop his punctuality and neatness, and earn proficiency badges, but most of all to make good friends.

From St Joseph's, Peter graduated to St Mungo's Academy in Townhead. He writes: "The Marist Brothers were very good teachers and spread a wonderful devotion to Our Lady. Each corridor had its May Altar and we would begin each day with a prayer at the shrine. This you could say was the Catholic climate I grew up in." He was able to share that he hoped one day to become a priest.

Around this time, Fr Herbert Bamber SDB, the first Salesian Peter had met, came from Shrigley to give a talk in the parish. Fr Bamber would have accepted Peter for the Missionary College, but advised him to wait a bit longer as his mother was a widow.

As was usual in those days, Peter left St Mungo's at the age of fourteen and spent the next 18 months working in an engineering factory. Then at last, he was able to continue his studies in Shrigley.

At the age of nineteen, Peter began his Novitiate in Beckford. Fr Brian Jerstice, a fellow novice ( along with Peter Boyle, Rudolf Perla and Sean O'Loughlin), writes: "Peter was a rather quiet but ever pleasant companion with an ever-ready gentle smile. His work experience probably contributed to his influence in creating the steady and maturing atmosphere of our group. He kept his novitiate conference notes all his life. He was a constant visitor to Christ in the tabernacle, as also here in Farnborough. His evident absorption was balanced at times by his familiar gentle smile."

After First Profession in 1948 he was sent to Shrigley for two years as a Philosophy student and spent three years on the teaching staff at Salesian College Farnborough, from 1950 to 1953. Theological studies followed in Beckford and at the International Salesian College of Theology at Melchet Court, where he was ordained to the priesthood on 7th July 1957. How would he begin his priestly ministry? Still under thirty, with little experience of teaching and no knowledge of Spanish, Fr Peter was sent to Quito in Ecuador to be headmaster and catechist at the Cardinal Spellman Salesian School. This was a defining period in his Salesian life. In his memoir, he refers to it very briefly: "I was there for five years. It was a very interesting experience, getting to know the pupils and their parents and living in a country rich in history with very strong family values."
"Interesting" goes only a short way towards describing the challenges he must have had to face in adapting to a very different culture, climate, language, and role. Today our Salesian missionaries are given several months of preparation before being sent overseas, but Peter simply obeyed the command of his superiors. An unexpected pleasure was that during the longer holidays, he was able to go to North America making Mission appeals and he delighted in the opportunity to travel on the Greyhound buses, taking in the scenery.

On his return, in 1962, Fr Peter spent seven years teaching the younger boys at Salesian College Farnborough. He also spent three years based in Aberdour as Vocations Director, but he remembers most warmly the twelve years he then spent teaching in Bootle. "Once you got their wavelength you could talk with them at any time. If a boy of sixteen wanted to see me about something, he would offer to clean the blackboard. This gave him a reason for staying behind and no one else was the wiser. 'Say a prayer for my Gran, Father, she's not well.' Then we would have a quiet prayer together."

Fr Peter certainly got on their wavelength. I remember seeing him walking with a group of boys in the corridors of the Salesian School. Every so often, they stopped and took up positions in a tableau. A further boy stood in front, looking through an imaginary film camera. He explained: "This is my RE class and we are filming the Stations of the Cross."
After retiring from teaching, Fr Peter moved further north for the next seven years. He was firstly assistant priest in Edinburgh, then based in Ushaw as chaplain to the John of God Brothers and finally assistant priest in Easterhouse, Glasgow. He writes: "This gave me the chance to look up many of my pals and laugh over the escapades we had over the years."

Now 63, Fr Peter joined the Battersea community. His focus for the first eight years was making occasional appeals for the Salesian Missions around the UK. Experiences in Ecuador provided ample material for his homilies. In his remaining years in Orbel Street, Fr Peter enjoyed welcoming the many visitors from around the Salesian world who came to London as tourists or students.

In 2008, Fr Peter moved to St John Bosco House, Farnborough. He was now in a situation more suited to the needs of elderly confreres, with easier access to the dining room and chapel, the presence of many old friends and the opportunity of picnics and other outings. A word he frequently used was 'relaxing'. Fr Peter's journeys to and from his room passed the open door of the chapel and he would always pause for a moment to greet the Lord. As in his childhood, "slipping in for a short visit was so very natural". He was always willing to preside at the Community Mass and even further afield.

During his final years in Farnborough, Fr Peter became frailer and more prone to falls, but he retained his healthy appetite and was able to celebrate his ninetieth birthday and the seventieth anniversary of his first profession. Such occasions were often marked by the presence of some of his Scottish and Irish relatives.

In April 2019, not long after his ninety-first birthday, Fr Peter suffered a fall, which resulted in a fracture to his femur. In spite of an operation and a period of convalescence in hospital, he was not able to regain sufficient mobility to return to St John Bosco House. Br Joe Adams, the House Manager, was fortunately able to find him a room at the Maryfield Convent Care Home in Hook, where he took up residence on 5th June. Tended by the Maltese Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Sienna, and in the company of several retired diocesan priests, Fr Peter was able to attend daily Mass and other devotions. He used to say that the spiritual style of the Sisters was very different from his Salesian experience, but he always expressed his gratitude for the religious atmosphere, which he had missed during his weeks in hospital. He remained cheerful, relaxed and serene.

During the following months, Fr Peter received frequent visits from Br Joe and other members of the community and staff at St John Bosco House and from his relatives. On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, he suffered a marked deterioration and was given the Sacrament of the Sick. Bishop Philip Egan, who was visiting his retired priests, also gave his blessing. A few days later, with several of the Sisters praying at his bedside, Fr Peter passed away peacefully to his heavenly home.

As he wrote at the end of his short memoir:

"I don't know why you chose me, Lord, but I'm awfully glad you did".

May he rest in peace!

Fr Patrick Sherlock SDB