City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation
Obituary
Barbara Carpenter Allen
Leasburg, North Carolina
Age 77.
Died 09/03/2025.
August 11th , 1948 – September 3rd , 2025
“Life goes faster than a roll of cheap toilet paper!” was just one of the great sayings you would hear from Barbara who was reborn on Wednesday September 3rd , 2025. Her spirit is carried on by her children, grandchildren, and extended family from every walk of life.
Barbara, who grew up in Wilson, North Carolina, lived a life filled with so much love, happiness and experiences she enthusiastically shared with everyone she met. Friendly and gregarious, she always said “in life that there are no strangers, just friends you haven’t met yet.” Barbara truly loved life and enjoyed sharing her stories, humor, and “isms” with anyone she encountered. She would ask how you were doing and even on a bad day, she found the silver lining in any situation. She grew up in a home filled with plenty of laughs, good-natured sibling rivalry and a strong foundation of love. As an adult, Barbara was the life of any SOS Myrtle Beach Shaggers party, the glue to our family and everything in between. Carefree and unassuming, her life was filled with simple pleasures; if she wasn’t shagging at Fat Harold’s Beach Club, she could easily be found cutting grass, at a casino, talking to her children or telling jokes. She was the best caregiver and would always put others before herself. She was extremely reliable, resilient, determined, courageous, and strong. Her immediate family were the true recipients of her love and kindness. Her children and grandchildren meant the world to her, and she took pride in letting everyone know how proud she was of each of them.
She is survived by her children, grandchildren, life partner, siblings and numerous friends:
Brad Allen of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin (Nicole), Elizabeth Browske of Dallas, Texas (Paul), and life partner Lonnie Bowes of Leasburg, North Carolina. Her 4 brothers, Lee Carpenter (Brenda) of Wilson, North Carolina, Lynn Carpenter of Wilson, North Carolina, Larry (Sissy) Carpenter of Augusta, Georgia and LC Carpenter (Mary) of Norman Park, Georgia. Grandchildren Keegan Jacobs (Tasha) of Graham, North Carolina, Lauriana Ferraro of Wilmington, North Carolina, Madison & Aiden Allen both of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and a great grandson, KJ Jacobs of Graham, North Carolina.
She is preceded in death by her late husband, Bill Allen, son Gregory Allen Lamm, sister Mary Jo Bass, parents Luther Carroll Carpenter and Molly Elizabeth Pittman Carpenter.
Friends (and strangers she would love to have met) can visit Barbara’s family at Plymouth Baptist Church (6104 Rock Service Station Rd. Raleigh, NC 27603) on Saturday, October 18th , 2025, starting at 10am with a prayer service at 11:30am.
Just as Barbara gave every ounce of love to those around her, she herself was wrapped in immense love. She passed peacefully at UNC Rex Hospital after a short battle with lung disease. Her memory will truly live on in each of us.
In Barbara’s memory, donations can be made to UNC Health & UNC School of Medicine for the Interstitial Lung Disease Excellence Fund @ https://give.unc.edu/hfdonate?t=BCALLEN
For additional information or for service details, please reach out to the family directly.
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City of Oaks Cremation and Funeral Home is a full-service funeral home in Raleigh, serving all of North Carolina and beyond. We provide an alternative to costly funeral homes and every day we help families in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and all over North Carolina make simple, affordable funeral arrangements.
Simply having to reach out to a funeral home can feel overwhelming. Our goal is to simplify the entire funeral home experience and make the process as easy as possible. We hope to eliminate any unnecessary surprises by publishing our total cost and the services we provide directly on our website. All of our obituaries are provided free of charge as a way to help families celebrate and commemorate the lives of their loved ones.
Our Promise
Apples to Apples
Just like all other licensed funeral homes in North Carolina, City of Oaks Cremation, LLC is regulated by the NC Board of Funeral Service.
The same laws that apply to the big corporate funeral homes also apply to the modest independently owned firms like ours. All crematories in North Carolina, regardless of who owns them, are inspected annually by the state and must adhere to the same rules and laws.
Genuine Care
We're committed to providing families within our community unsurpassed service before, during and after the time of loss.
Our staff will provide clear communication to your family through each step as we move forward from the original phone call notifying us of a death to the time we deliver the urn back to your family. We will treat your family with the utmost respect, as we honor the wishes of your loved one.
We promise to make this process affordable and as endurable as possible.
State Wide
Our Funeral Home is located in Wake County NC; however, we provide our services to families throughout the entire State.
Unlike other funeral homes, we don't charge an additional mileage fee. Regardless of what county you live in, we can help your family with making simple, affordable funeral arrangements. From Asheville to Wilmington, we're proud to help families statewide.
Our Services
$1196.75
Nobody likes surprise costs added in at the last minute. We guarantee you will not find any hidden charges here. We include everything you need for a simple or direct cremation. Simple, affordable and reliable. We have not changed the cost of our direct cremation service since we opened City of Oaks in 2012.
$2875.66
We offer the option of choosing how you receive your loved ones remains. Selecting our Direct Cremation with Solidified Remains option is a beautiful way to transform cremated remains into 40-60 “stones” that you can hold.
$1596.75
City of Oaks Funeral Home and Cremation provides an affordable cremation with a private family viewing. A private family viewing allows up to 10 immediate family members or friends to spend time with a loved one when a public visitation is not preferred.
$1917.84
City of Oaks Funeral Home and Cremation provides an affordable cremation option with onsite visitation. Nobody likes surprise costs added in at the last minute. We guarantee you will not find any hidden charges here. Simple, affordable and reliable.
$2497.50
An immediate burial has the same end result as a traditional burial; however, we have eliminated the extra (sometimes unnecessary) services prior to getting to the cemetery. Not everyone wants an open casket for viewing or a limousine for the family. Despite the term immediate, we can move as fast as you need or as slow as you like. This option simply allows you to save money by eliminating some of the fancy extras at the funeral home.
$6081.48
We offer the same traditional funeral services as the big corporately owned funeral homes in the area; however, we cost about half the amount. You might consider a traditional funeral service if your family is looking for an open casket visitation, a traditional church service or a funeral service in the funeral home's chapel. A traditional funeral service can be altered to fit the needs of your family.
$3033.75
This establishment is one of a select number of funeral homes who meet the criteria for providing green funeral service by the Green Burial Council; a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization working to encourage environmentally sustainability in the field of funeral service. Our Green options allow for a funeral to take place without the use of toxic and non-biodegradable materials/chemicals.
$2640.59
As an alternative to traditional cremation, City of Oaks Funeral Home also offers Aquamation. The Aquamation process, often referred to as alkaline hydrolysis, uses a solution of water and potassium hydroxide to facilitate natural decomposition.