Thomas Cunningham Cureton

COLUMBIA - A Memorial Service for Thomas Cunningham Cureton, 88, will be held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, June 27, 2015, at Forest Lake Presbyterian Church, 6500 North Trenholm Road. The family will receive friends in the church Parlor following the service. Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family. Mr. Cureton died Wednesday, June 24, 2015. Born in Monroe, NC, he was a son of the late Everard and Belle Cureton. After serving overseas in the US Army during WWII, he married Ethel Smith and began work at WBTV in Charlotte, NC, before moving to Columbia to join WIS-TV as the Art Director. In 1962, he started his own advertising agency which he merged in 1966 to form Barton & Cureton, Inc., a full service advertising agency in Columbia, SC. For more 36 years, he directed all of the advertising for the internationally popular Slinky toy. He was a former member of Columbia Civitan Club and Advertising Committee/United Fund. Mr. and Mrs. Cureton were Charter Members of Forest Lake Presbyterian Church where he served on the church Diaconate and as an Elder on the Session. Surviving are his daughters, Mary (John) Nick, Elizabeth (Alex) Paris, and Virginia (James) Hutchison, all of Columbia, Amy (Doyle) Johnson of Gainesville, GA, and Lydia (Glenn) Lister of Greenville, SC; brother, Mac Cureton of Spartanburg; sister-in-law, Susan of Charlotte, N.C.; eight granddaughters; one grandson; three great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, two brothers, and a sister. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Forest Lake Presbyterian Church, 6500 North Trenholm Road, Columbia SC 29206.