Peter John McCarthy

Peter John McCarthy, 75, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly, on February 8, 2025. Peter leaves his wife, Aphrodite Kavyas McCarthy, his daughter, Cedar, his daughter by marriage, Ariadne Strutton Covacevich, and her husband, Josh, and his adoring grandchild, Emma Lane Covacevich, who decided as soon as she could talk that his name was "myPeter", with a strong emphasis on the "my." In addition, he leaves his sisters, Katie McCarthy Brazel (Woody), and Molly McCarthy Fraher (Richard); his nieces and nephews, Sarah, Michael, Justin, and Braz, Tim and Stephan, and Patrick and Mary Claire. He was predeceased by his older brother, Tom McCarthy, and younger brother, Michael McCarthy (Catharin), and by his parents, John "Jack" and June Peterson McCarthy. Peter leaves a host of friends, but especially his best friends since childhood, Brent, Frank, Dennis, and Nancy (with whom he shared a birthday). He had a special bond with his friend Leroy, and cherished his friendship with his friend Bill.
Born in Chicago, Peter was a talented athlete in grade school, playing baseball and basketball for Holy Spirit in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also began caddying and playing golf. As a 14-year-old, he won the City of Louisville's golf championship and maintained his natural swing throughout his life. In high school, he dabbled in modeling (not his cup of tea) and later also in summer stock theater, which he loved.
Peter was an artist and thinker; he never lost his sense of wonder and curiosity. He found dogma, prejudice, and narrow-mindedness anathema. This led him to lead a fascinating life, the kind most people never dream of. After high school, he went off to work on the iron ore boats of Lake Michigan, a grueling job; he continued west to work on salmon fishing boats off the coast of Alaska, alongside hard-core hard drinking older crusty sailors. He and Frank spent some extended time in Mexico; later Peter went off and traveled throughout Central and South America for months, sleeping on beaches, meeting families, and becoming somewhat conversant in Spanish. Peter never forgot his Spanish and always enjoyed using it, especially when he traveled to the high peaks of Ecuador decades later to visit Edwin, a friend and blues devotee from Ecuador who had been deported while working for Peter.
He attended the University of Kentucky to study fine art and quickly became a very talented ceramicist. While living in Lexington, he would travel to Nantucket to help his friend and fellow woodworker Ed build houses. He was studying art at the University of Kentucky in the 1970s where he met his first wife, Dorree Cooper, of Pass Christian. While at UK, even though he never finished his BFA because the school wanted him to take non-art courses he was not interested in, he secured studio space and created his own visionary ceramic art pieces, like Baseball Buddha, his tribute to Jackie Robinson. Though he loved the work and the creative process, he quickly tired of the life of an artist which required dragging his quite heavy and fragile work around to endless shows to make a living.
In the mid-to-later 1970s, Peter went to study the craft of wooden boat building with Dean T. Stephens, a renowned artisan and wooden boat builder, at Stephens's family compound along the Abalobadiah River near Fort Bragg. Peter paid for his schooling there by crafting art pieces that he would take to area art galleries to be sold. In 1978, he and Dorree married at her family's compound known locally as the Japanese Gardens on E. Beach Road, where the couple lived for a few years. Peter was enchanted by the gardens, the Buddhas and Japanese Tea House; he also loved the Mississippi Gulf Coast itself, which he said at the time reminded him of his travels to parts of Mexico.
After he had returned from California, Peter started his business, Wooden Arts, on Davis Avenue, just north of Second Street, in Pass Christian and seriously began his business of custom millwork and furniture which graced many fine homes in the Pass. In 1980, Peter and Frank bought the Laughing Lady, a 1939 wooden Chris-craft cruiser, 34' in length, for $3,000, after it had sunk in its shallow slip in Louisville. Peter and Frank worked hard to restore the boat with Peter doing the planking repair and other woodwork and Frank the engines, mechanical, and electrical work. At best, it was a fairly fragile boat that in retrospect maybe wasn't ready for its next adventure: a trip from Louisville all the way down the Mississippi to New Orleans, with friends Dennis and Janet along for the trip. But the boat and the crew made it.
In the early 1980s he bought a few acres north of the Pass where he built his workshop, created a habitat for the native wildlife, and ultimately, by his own hand, built his home and almost everything within and without, including a soaring ceiling reminiscent of the hull of a wooden boat and that serves as a centerpiece of the home. In 2001, he met Dita at the Cooper's annual January bonfire on the beach, and in short order Peter had a wife and a 12-year-old daughter, Ariadne, joined later by Cedar. Over the decades he has planted thousands of native shrubs, palms, perennial flowers, and trees (a few of which were on "crutches" for years after Katrina and then Zeta, and though they may still lean a bit they are healthy as can be); he created ponds and bogs to capture the torrential rain runoff of the area and thus has provided homes for native and migratory wildlife.
Peter had a gift for making everyone who met him feel as though he was interested and curious about them, because he really, really was. He had nothing to prove so he took people as they were, no matter their station in life, and appreciated each individual's very own uniqueness. People came to him for advice or just to be in his presence as he really listened thoughtfully to everything people said and then he would respond with kindness, wisdom, and often a witty repartee. He was funny, always ready with a witty comment, sometimes wise, sometimes silly, sometimes both. He treasured and looked forward to the funny birthday cards Katie always sent him. Ari and Cedar received books that were collections of comics, like the Calvin and Hobbes and "Bad Hair" books. Cedar, in return, gave him "Dad Jokes" books.
Peter's biggest passion was creating and maintaining a beautiful, sustainable place for his family to live in harmony with the earth. Between working in the shop, on the property, and being a voracious reader, Peter was always busy; yet he was still never too busy or preoccupied to take off his ear protectors and turn off the saws or the chain saw to stop and chat with friends or family when they stopped by. He loved the creative process and welcomed the challenge of helping his clients - who invariably became lifelong friends - flesh out their own ideas so he could bring them into reality. Peter's woodworking craft is found across the coast, from Florida to Louisiana and beyond. A few examples of his unique vision are the Reredos in the Episcopal church, a dining table with "vers de terre" inlays (a design created by Ariadne), bookshelves with moons and snakes that he created for a naturalist friend, a palm leaf sideboard, a bookshelf featuring the profile of Dita when she was carrying Cedar, and a full human torso that he crafted for someone who wanted to display an ancestor's antique diving helmet.
He was a voracious reader with a lifelong thirst for knowledge. He was interested in current events and became dismayed and disturbed that humanity was failing, even refusing, to address the climate change crisis. He worried about his children and grandchildren's future on this earth. He believed deeply in the Native American philosophy that we all act as stewards of the land, protecting and preserving it for future generations.
The family has been overwhelmed and deeply grateful for the outpouring of love and appreciation of the life of this wonderful, unique man by so many who knew him. A celebration of his life will be held at his home on May 24, 2025. If you wish to honor Peter, we ask that you plant a tree, cherish art, and stay curious.