City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation

Obituary
Bohdan Kuropas

Hickory, North Carolina

Age 84.
Died 08/05/2022.

Bohdan Kuropas
Bohdan B. Kuropas, retired professor of Lenoir-Rhyne University, died on August 5, 2022 at the age of 84 at Duke University Hospital in Durham, NC surrounded by his family.

Funeral services and internment will take place in Philadelphia, PA.
In Hickory, a Memorial Mass will be held at St. Aloysius Catholic Church on September 24, 2022 at 10:00 AM.

He was born in Ukraine. Lived and studied in Europe until the age of 16. Traveled extensively in Europe. Lived six years in French-speaking Belgium and came to the United States in 1954.

He earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees at Penn State University while also working as teaching assistant for two years. He received a Teaching Fellowship at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he pursued his Ph.D. while teaching Intermediate French and Survey of French Literature. He earned his Ph.D. in 16th Century French Literature and Linguistics. He spoke five languages.

He taught at Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio, for five years. He was Language Coordinator for the Departments of French, German and Spanish, Director of the Language Lab, and Student Advisor. He was also head soccer coach.
In 1974, he joined the Faculty of the Modern and Classical Languages Department at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, NC. Here he applied for and was awarded the IMPACT grant from the Exxon Education Foundation to implement the Dartmouth Intensive Language Model, a highly successful teaching methodology of foreign languages. He implemented the program in French with Dr. Augustin Quilici, Dr. Robert Eckart in Spanish and Dr. Werner Keller in German.

He was also Director of the International Business Program. Working jointly with the Business Department, he was instrumental in developing this new Major. He served as Chairman of the Modern and Classical Languages Department, and was active in the Students Abroad Program.

Additionally, a star soccer athlete, he started the first Men's Soccer Program in L-R's Athletic Department in 1976 and was its Head Soccer Coach.

Dr. Kuropas was a professor at Lenoir-Rhyne for 33 years before retiring in 2007. The College Board of Trustees awarded him the title of Professor Emeritus in honor of his many years of distinguished service to Lenoir-Rhyne.

In the Hickory community, he was President of the Alliance Française of Hickory. A parishioner at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, he taught 11th and 12th grade students in its Faith Formation Program. He also taught mathematics at St. Stephens Lutheran Day School on a part time basis.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Lydia Kuropas, two sons, Adrian and his wife Karin, and Dorian and his wife Nataliya; and seven grandchildren: Markian, Alexander, Justin, Zenon, Maksym, Andrew, Sophia, as well as brother Eugene Kuropas and aunt Sr. M. Ingeborg Kotschenasch. All loved him very much.

In lieu of flowers, he would be honored with donations to The Ukrainian Federation of America, 700 Cedar Road, Jenkintown, PA 19047 (https://ufofa.org/contribute/)
or to The Moog Center for Deaf Education, 12300 South Forty Drive, St. Louis, MO 63141 (https://www.moogcenter.org/ and https://www.moogcenter.org/donate/)

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

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Direct Cremation

$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.

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Cremation with Solidified Remains

$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.

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Cremation with Visitation

$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.

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Immediate Burial

$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.

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Traditional Funeral

$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.

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Green Burial

$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.

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Aquamation

$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.

City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremations