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Her Grandmother Emma Phillips Paschal
recorded the history of Carthage along with
the Moore County history spanning 150
years. Thomas tells, “I donated her original
transcripts to the Moore Historical Society a
few years back.”
While Thomas’ mom Rosemary attended
nursing school in Charlotte, the family
came home every chance afforded. “My
grandparents’ home was the epicenter of our
social gatherings; our times shared together
are the best memories I have!”smiles Thomas.
With family roots in the Carthage / Glendon
area, Thomas’ parents Rosemary Underwood
Paschal and Steven Crosby Paschal were
blessed with three children, two daughters
one son. Eventually moving home to Moore,
Rosemary worked as a RN, while Steven, a
retired salesman, handled the golf course
maintenance at Pine Needles and Mid Pines.
In admiring her mom’s work as a RN nurse,
Thomas felt that she too wanted to be the
perfect, most friendly and most compassionate
nurse ever. Upon graduating from Garinger
High School in Charlotte, Thomas earned her
CNA II license and served in the trauma bay of
Carolina’s Medical Center.
Over time, Thomas’ heart kept pulling her
back to her authentic purpose of becoming an
author. Having spent so many days and nights
with her Grandmother Emma while she
wrote the history of Moore County along with
recording a genealogy of nine generations of
their family, Thomas’ journey came full circle.
Remembering her favorites of childhood,
Thomas tells, “Each day Grandma and I would
check the Carthage Post Office for ancestor
letters, visit the old Kmart for supplies and
prepare each year for our family reunion.
When I was smaller, I wrote stories on torn out
notebook paper, and Grandma prepared little
binders of things I had written, along with the
other grandchildren’s things. We each had a
book as my grandmother loved to write and
organize. Those days were the absolute BEST!”
Drawing from the inspiration her
grandmother exampled, Thomas has written
her own book entitled, Our Hearts are the
Same. A story of an interracial friendship,
Our Hearts are the Same is about a slave girl
named Addie who became friends with the
plantation owner’s daughter named Kate.
Set in the end of the Civil War in 1869, the
book carries the girls’ friendship through the
hardships of post-war issues. “They see no
color, for they know all hearts are the same,”
informs Thomas.
Although the book is based on fictional
characters, the historical context accurately
depicts the Post-Civil War era when slaves
were free but still navigating racial struggles.
Defying the odds of their friendship, Addie
and Kate are thrown into mayhem when a
tragedy occurs at the height of the storyline,
and they need each other more than ever.
As they journey through
the tragedies, love conquers
all. Of course, Kate’s snooty
northern relatives are not
in agreement with the
friendship, but Kate and
Addie remain best of friends.
With the setting of the
book based in downtown
Savannah, GA, Thomas made
frequent trips to Savannah to
do research on what things
were like back in the day.
As Thomas fell in love with
Savannah, she was honored
to launch her book, in 2018,
at a small bookstore from the
river front.
Many unforgettable
memories of her trips to
Savannah remain dear. As
Thomas visited the places
featured in her book that are
still standing, she decided to
attend a Sunday morning worship service at
the First African Baptist Church. What a happy
experience filled with the Holy Spirit, friendly
people and beautiful music! Over many visits
to the church, the one thing that stood out
the most were the holes in the wooden floor
of the basement where the members gather
for fellowship. Drilled during the Civil War,
the holes were used for
ventilation so that the
slaves who were running
to freedom could breathe
as they passed through
the underground network
of tunnels. Thomas slows,
“I sat at that place in the
floor for must have been an
hour while I just cried and
prayed for the people who
had passed through it.
Our Hearts are the
Same seeks to show that, in
spite, of all of the injustices
of society, that our hearts
are the same—that we are
born to love, and we are
taught to hate. “I want my
young readers to read this
book and realize that their
friends, no matter what
color, are people, humans,
and there is nothing wrong
with being a different color. I want them to feel
love,” exclaims Thomas. “I want them to know
p.8 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. No. 140
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