Curtis Truesdale

With profound love and heartfelt sorrow, we celebrate the remarkable life of Rev. Curtis Truesdale, a man whose 93 years were filled with faith, family, service, laughter, leadership, and love. On August 18, 2026, surrounded by the love of his family, Rev. Truesdale peacefully completed his earthly journey.

His story began on March 14, 1933, in Lancaster, South Carolina, where he was born to the late Potee Truesdale and Beulah Mills Truesdale. Growing up in Lancaster helped shape the man Curtis would become. From an early age, he learned the importance of family, hard work, perseverance, and faith. Those lessons stayed with him throughout his life and became the foundation upon which he built his family, his career, and eventually his ministry.

As a young man, Curtis discovered a love for athletics. While attending Barr Street High School, he proudly took the football field as a member of the Barr Street Tigers. Football was more than a game to him. It taught him discipline, teamwork, determination, and how to keep moving forward even when the road was difficult. Those lessons would follow him throughout every chapter of his life.

In July 1953, Curtis' journey took him far beyond Lancaster when he was drafted into the United States Army. He served as a Field Wireman with Battery A, 175th Field Artillery Battalion. He approached his military service with the same discipline and commitment that had guided him as a young athlete and served his country honorably, earning the National Defense Service Medal. When his military service ended, Curtis returned home ready to begin the next chapter of his life. Education became his path forward, and he enrolled at Allen University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Physical Education. He also returned to something he loved deeply, football, playing right tackle for the university. During his college years, he also pledged Masonic Fraternity, finding another community centered around brotherhood and service.

Then, in 1960, an opportunity came that would forever change the direction of his life. The Superintendent of Nelson County Public Schools invited Curtis to travel to Nelson County, Virginia, to interview for a teaching position. He accepted the invitation and was hired as a health and physical education teacher. Curtis may have traveled to Virginia for a job, but what he found there became far more important than any career opportunity. He found Dolores. Curtis loved telling the story of how he met Dolores Brothers, the woman who would become his wife, his partner, his soul mate, and the love of his life. As the story goes, Dolores had hurt her finger. Curtis, being the health and physical education teacher, decided he was just the person to help her fix it. Somewhere in the midst of helping her, Curtis boldly told her, "I'm gonna marry you, girl!" Dolores thought he was crazy. Curtis, however, apparently knew something she didn't yet know. He continued pursuing her, and eventually that confident young teacher from South Carolina won her heart. On September 2, 1961, Curtis and Dolores were married, beginning a love story that would span 64 years. Together, they built more than a marriage. They built a family, a home, a ministry, and a life centered on faith and service. They welcomed their three children, Michael, Sherrise, and Curtis D., and created a home where family, faith, discipline, laughter, and love were always present.

While building his family, Curtis continued pouring himself into the young people of Nelson County. Teaching health and physical education came naturally to him, but coaching allowed him to combine two things he cared deeply about: athletics and helping young people become their best selves. During his teaching career, Curtis also started a driver's education program in Nelson County, further demonstrating his commitment to educating and preparing young people for life beyond the classroom. He coached football, basketball, and baseball, and his athletes quickly learned that Coach Truesdale expected discipline, hard work, and commitment. His dedication produced memorable accomplishments. In 1964, he was voted Coach of the Year in basketball for Group II, District V, VIA. Just three years later, in 1967, his basketball team advanced all the way to the Virginia Basketball State Championship, finishing second in the state. Yet for Curtis, coaching was about far more than a scoreboard. He understood that sports could teach young people lessons they would carry long after the final whistle. The young men and women he taught and coached learned about perseverance, responsibility, teamwork, and believing in themselves. In many ways, he was already ministering to others long before he ever stepped behind a pulpit.

In 1977, Curtis answered a call that had been growing within him.  God called him into the ministry. He returned to the church that had helped establish his spiritual foundation as a child, Mt. Calvary A.M.E. Zion Church in Lancaster, South Carolina, and preached his trial sermon. He was later received into the Pee Dee Conference of the A.M.E. Zion Church in South Carolina and began his pastoral ministry at St. James A.M.E. Zion Church in Chesterfield. Eventually, Rev. Truesdale transferred to the East Tennessee-Virginia Conference and brought his ministry back to the community that had become home to him and his family. His faith, however, would soon lead him to build something that would become one of the greatest pieces of his legacy. In 1988, through faith, perseverance, prayer, and determination, Rev. Truesdale founded First African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of Lovingston, Virginia. What began with faith became a church home and spiritual foundation for others. Rev. Truesdale faithfully served the congregation and the surrounding community until his retirement from active ministry. His sermons were important, but perhaps the greatest sermon he ever preached was the life he lived outside of the pulpit.

Curtis and Dolores believed that love was something you demonstrated. Their home was not only a place for their own children and family. It became a place where other children could find safety, guidance, stability, and love. By 1995, Curtis and Dolores had opened their home to 15 foster children. They did not simply talk about caring for others; they made room for them at their table and in their lives. That was who Curtis was.

He was a man who served. He served his country as a soldier. He served young people as a teacher and coach. He served his community as a mentor and leader. He served his church as a pastor. He served children who needed a home. Most importantly, he served God and loved his family.

As the years passed, one of his greatest joys became watching the family he and Dolores had built continue to grow. He became Granddad to Maya and Darius and later had the blessing of becoming a great-grandfather to Thomas Matthews Paul lll. The titles may have changed through the years, from son and brother to husband, Dad, Granddad, and great-grandfather, but family remained at the center of his heart.

For 64 years, Dolores remained beside him through life's many seasons. They grew together, raised their family together, served together, opened their home to others together, and built a life rooted in faith. Her passing preceded his own, leaving behind a love story that had endured for more than six decades.

And now, after 93 years, Curtis' earthly story has reached its final chapter. Rev. Truesdale was preceded in death by his beloved wife and soulmate, Dolores Brothers Truesdale; his brother, Elton Truesdale; and his five sisters, Cleona Blackmon, Mae Ida McKinney, Mildred Edwards, Loretta Davidson, and Catherine White. He leaves behind the family who will continue telling his story: his children, Michael Truesdale (Veronica), Sherrise Truesdale (Jonathan), and Curtis D. Truesdale; his grandchildren, Maya Truesdale and Darius Truesdale; his great-grandson, Thomas Matthews Paul lll; and his beloved sisters, Ophelia McIlwain and Alfreda Gaither. His memory will also be cherished by a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family members, church family, former students and athletes, friends, and the many people whose lives crossed paths with his.

To simply list Curtis' accomplishments could never fully tell his story.

His story is found in the young man from Lancaster who loved football. It is found in the soldier who answered his country's call. It is found in the teacher who traveled to Virginia for a job and unexpectedly found the woman he would love for the rest of his life. It is found in the husband who confidently told Dolores, "I'm gonna marry you, girl," and then spent 64 years proving just how much that promise meant. His story lives in the students he taught, the athletes he coached, the children he welcomed into his home, the congregation he shepherded, the church he founded, and the family he loved beyond measure. Most of all, his story lives in us. We will remember his stories. We will remember his lessons. We will remember his faith. We will remember his strength. We will remember the way he loved Dolores and his family. We will remember the values he passed down and the example he gave us of what it means to live a life of purpose.  And while saying goodbye brings a sorrow that words cannot fully express, there is comfort in knowing that Curtis lived a long and meaningful life. He loved deeply. He served faithfully. He gave generously. He taught others. He built something that will outlive him. And he left his family with a legacy that cannot be measured by years alone.

His earthly journey began in Lancaster, South Carolina, in 1933, but the story of Rev. Curtis Truesdale does not end in 2026. It continues through every person he loved, every life he touched, and every generation that carries his name, his lessons, his faith, and his love forward. And perhaps there is no more fitting way to close his story than with the hope that, after a lifetime of loving Dolores here on earth, Curtis and his beloved Dolores are together once again.

May Rev. Curtis Truesdale rest peacefully in the presence of the God he faithfully served, knowing that the life he lived, the family he built, and the love he gave will never be forgotten.

A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 29, 2026 at St. James CME Church 280 Rockwell Road, Lynchburg, Virginia 24504.

Interment will be held Tuesday, September 1, 2026 at the Lancaster Memorial Park 1389 Memorial Park Road, Lancaster, South Carolina 29720.

The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service.

Arrangements by Wells/Sheffield Funeral Chapel, Lovingston (434-263-4097).