Memorial Service: Monday, April 21, 2014 at 12 noon at Willow Street Church of God 1455 West Willow Street Long Beach, CA.

Interment: Riverside National Cemetery

Obituary
On April 27, 1939 Ernestine Sanders was born to Ernest and Mary Brown, She was the eldest of four children and the only girl. Ernestine attended school and accepted Christ in her hometown of Norfolk, VA. Norfolk was also where she met and married her soul mate, Richard Sanders. In 1962, the happy couple and oldest child, Marcella, moved to Long Beach, CA. They joined Antioch Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Joe Chaney in 1962. As a deaconess, Ernestine faithfully served for many years. In 1969, God blesses the happy couple with a son, "Ricky". Richard and Ernestine founded the Golden Hearts Marriage Ministry through which they touched the lives of several couples with their annual marriage retreats. Three years ago Ernestine joined Willow Street Church of God and was received with open arms. She truly enjoyed the fellowship there. Ernestine was also a long standing member of the Eastern Star. Her true legacy was her love of children. After obtaining a degree in Child Development, Ernestine and Richard started the Sanders Teeny Tiny Preschool. Always the hard worker, Ernestine could be seen picking up and dropping off children all over Long Beach. Countless children were cared for, taught, potty trained and loved for more than 35 years at the preschool. An innovative and motivated entrepreneur, Ernestine was honored in the Press Telegram as an African American trailblazer. She became the first African American woman in Long Beach to own the nonresidential property where a nursing facility was located.

Ernestine was preceded in death by her husband Richard, parents Ernest and Mary Brown; brothers Roland Brown and John Brown. She leaves to cherish her memory her daughter Marcella Jackson of Long Beach, CA; son Richard E. Sanders (Laura) of Long Beach, CA; brother Edward Brown of Los Angeles, CA; granddaughters Miriam (Lee) Gray, Elisabeth Jackson, Charity Jackson, Naomi (Oliver) Hinds and Rebekah (Fred) Minor; 5 great grandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends.

God saw Ernestine was getting weary, so He did what He thought was best. He came and stood beside her, and whispered, "Come and rest." you bade no one a last farewell, not even a good-bye. You were gone before we knew it, and only God knows why.