With God at her side, and the love of friends and family surrounding her, Ernestine Horton Paschall Shade has come a long way since the midwife who delivered her announced to her parents, “She’s not going to make it.” Over ninety years later that frail, four-pound baby with a sickle cell trait and a heart murmur, tells her remarkable story of challenge and triumph. From a small village in western North Carolina to the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles, California, Ernestine’s determination and ceaseless energy impacted the children she taught, teachers she supervised, and the Delta “sisters” she loved. A Bennett College graduate, she earned the title “Legacy” for her dedication to the school that trained her. With God as My CoPilot, I Did It My Way relates the story of a deep faith in God’s presence and the never-ending love she poured out to her mother, daughter, granddaughter, and late in life, to her long-lost sweetheart. Ernestine is confident that the daily and fervent prayers of her mother made an impact on her life.

Ernestine with her mother, Inez Patterson Horton

In 2019, Ernestine was recognized as a distinguished graduate of Freedman High School in Lenoir, North Carolina, and inducted into the Caldwell County Hall of Honor.

Coauthors Gretchen Griffith and Ernestine Paschall Shade