Ernestine Caldwell Young Ashford, 88, passed away on Friday, March 28, 2014, at a local medical center. Funeral services will be held at 11:00a.m., on Thursday, April 3, 2014, at Mount Zion Baptist Church with Dr. Kelvin Kelley officiating. Burial will follow in Cedar Hill Cemetery under the direction of Elliott-Hamil Funeral Home, 542 Hickory St. Visitation will be Wednesday evening from 6 to 8p.m. at the funeral home.
Mrs. Ashford was born on February 6, 1926 in Lufkin, TX to June and Isabell Drewey Caldwell, and grew up in Tyler, TX. She graduated from Emmett J. Scott High School and Texas College in Tyler with a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics. She received a State Vocational Certificate of Approval from Prairie View A&M University, and did graduate study at McMurry and Abilene Christian Universities. She taught in Bossier City, LA and Lamesa, TX, and was a County Extension Agent in Corsicana, TX before coming to Abilene in 1952, as teacher of Home Economics for adults with Abilene Independent School District at Woodson Elementary School and Woodson High School (1952-1981). Before retiring in 1986, she taught five years in the home economics department at Abilene High School. Mrs. Ashford was an active and faithful member of the Mount Zion Baptist Church. She had previous membership or affiliations with Abilene Community Relations Committee, American Red Cross, American Heart Association, National Education Association, Vocational Homemaking Teachers Association of Texas, American Vocational Association, American Association of Retired Persons, Abilene and Texas Retired Teachers Association, Antioch Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Theta Gamma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Greater Abilene Ministers Wives, Hendricks Health System Volunteer Auxiliary, YMCA, and West Central Texas Alliance of Black School Educators, and a life member of Texas State Teachers Association.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Reverend Montgomery Ashford; her son, Henry Ashford; one sister, Alzeena Caldwell Payne; sister-in-law, Ina Campbell; her cousins, Linda Hale, and Austerine Gilbert.
Survivors include one sister, June Doty of Miami, Fla; four sons, Ernest C. Young of Hilton Head, SC, Lawrence J. Young (Edie) of Killeen, TX, Aaron L. Ashford (Sheila) of Abilene, TX, and Lincoln M. Ashford of Chicago, IL. Two daughters, Mona A. Ekpunobi of Abilene, TX and Harold Ann Prince of Dallas, TX. One sister-in-law, Joan Wilson of Houston, TX. Sixteen grandchildren and eighteen great-grandchildren.
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