Never Give Up!: The Life of Pearl Carter Scott

In this book, Paul F. Lambert recounts the remarkable life of Pearl Carter Scott, child aviator, single mother, and revered Chickasaw elder.

Born in 1915 and raised in Marlow, Oklahoma, Pearl Carter enjoyed a privileged childhood. Her white father was a gifted businessman who happened to be blind. Her mother was half Chickasaw and half Choctaw. When Pearl was twelve, she met Wiley Post, who was just beginning his aviation career, and he taught the adventurous young girl how to fly. After she turned thirteen, her father bought her an airplane and converted a pasture into an airstrip. She married at age sixteen, and by the age of eighteen, with one child and another on the way, she retired from flying—even though it had made her a celebrity.

Pearl and her husband raised three children, but the Great Depression and other circumstances dissolved the family’s fortune. Then a fire destroyed most of her and her husband’s belongings, and a few years later, she found herself divorced and poor. Yet Pearl maintained her positive outlook even during these difficult times. She turned to a life of service to the Chickasaw people and became a revered tribal elder who was inducted into the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame and the Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame.

Paul F. Lambert works as a consultant to the Chickasaw Nation and the Oklahoma Historical Society. He is the author or coauthor of thirteen books related to the history of Oklahoma and the petroleum industry.