Obituary of Claudia Pinkston

LEXINGTON—Funeral services for Claudia Pinkston, 59, of Lexington, will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at Palmetto Church of Christ. Officiating will be pastor Mike Hollis. Burial will be private. Pallbearers will be David Mitchell, Dickson Toroitich, Tabb Meade, Mark Ping, Chip Holton and Robert McKie. Honorary pallbearers will be Tim Pinkston, Sid Lanier, Wayne Caughman, Jack Lipman, Vernon Smith, Michael Lipman, Robert Hook, David Carpenter, Jeff Baker and Hugh Caldwell. The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. Monday at Thompson Funeral Home of Lexington. In lieu of flowers send memorials payable to Palmetto Church of Christ, Honduras Mission Fund, 7000 Nursery Road, Columbia, SC 29212. Claudia Pinkston, loving wife, mother, grandmother and friend, faithful servant of the Lord, and teacher of hundreds, lost her battle with cancer but won her victory in Jesus on Saturday morning, July 14, 2012. Born in Miami, FL, she was the daughter of Merrill and Evelyn Cushen. She was a loyal member of Palmetto Church of Christ. She was a 1975 graduate of David Lipscomb College. Everyone who knew her knew her natural sense of humor or experienced her gracious giving spirit or benefited from her joyful love of teaching children or just enjoyed spending time with her…. or all of the above. Surviving are her husband, Doug Pinkston of Lexington; father, Merrill Cushen and step-mother, Evelyn Cushen of Asheville, NC; daughters, Kelly Pinkston Edwards (Chris) of Lexington and Kimberly Pinkston Parker (Jason) of Nashville, TN; adopted son, Dickson Toroitich of Kenya, Africa; grandchildren, Caroline and Carly Edwards; sisters, Diane Linares (Carlos) of Ft. Meyers, FL and Susan Leatherman of Florida; brothers, Jack Lipman (Rosamond) of Jupiter, FL and Michael Lipman of Florida; special cousins, Michelle Amato, Sarah Cadwell and Sandy Kerry. She was preceded in death by her mother, Pauline Lipman.