 Applewhite attended Corpus Christi High School and Austin College ; at the latter school , he was active in several student organizations and was moderately religious . He earned a bachelor 's degree in philosophy in 1952 and subsequently enrolled at Union Presbyterian <unk> to study theology , hoping to become a minister . He married Anne <unk> around that time , and they later had two children . Early in his <unk> studies , he decided to leave the school to pursue a career in music , becoming the music director of a Presbyterian church in North Carolina . He was a baritone singer and enjoyed spirituals and the music of Handel . In 1954 , he was drafted by the United States Army and served in Austria and New Mexico as a member of the Army Signal Corps . He left the military in 1956 and enrolled at the University of Colorado , where he earned a master 's degree in music and focused on musical theater . 
