City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation

Obituary
Mary Louise Morris

Durham, North Carolina

Age 61.
Died 08/29/2022.

Mary Louise Morris
As servants of Jehovah, our grandmother and aunt instilled in us a love of reading bible stories. As a result, Mary became an avid reader and used her reading ability to excel as an A student in all the schools she attended. At Norman Thomas H.S in NYC, her scholastic excellence landed her an internship, and later she was hired permanently at Oleg Cassini Fashion Belt & Bag Show Room on 33rd Street in Manhattan. She also served as their model for the inventory during their Fashion Week.

During this period of her life, she met and married Anthony L. Morris Sr. and gave birth to their three sons, Anthony Jr., Travis, and Tyree. Mary later met Carlos Franco and they became parents to Carlina and Carlos Franco.

Mary dedicated her life to Jehovah by water baptism in the early 2000’s. She had the opportunity to go serve where the need was greater, and she was beaming. She truly enjoyed that opportunity!

Mary last worked at RSM McGladrey in the Human Resources Department, and prior to that Mary worked at several Y2K Tech Companies. During the September 11th disaster, she was lost but several hours later, emerged safely and finally made contact and made it home covered in dust, but she made it!

By 2009, she resigned from her job to spend more time focusing on child rearing. She had moved to NJ, then to Durham. NC. In 2019, she began to further her education to pursue an Online Psychology Degree. By 2020, she had a variety of illnesses, but she did not allow that to dampen her spirit or deter her from her goals. Up until a couple of days before her departure, through her pain and sickness she would say, “ok set up my computer, I have to finish my homework.” She always had a positive spirit and her love for Jehovah was strong. She was singing the kingdom song that was playing as she laid in bed, listening to the broadcast. Her exuberance will be missed by all who knew and loved her!

Mary was preceded in death by her husband Anthony Sr., her mother and father, Dolores and William, brother Darryl, and sister Kim. Mary leaves to mourn her children, Anthony (Sash-Sha), Travis, Tyree (Brittany), her only daughter Carlina and youngest son Carlos. Her grandchildren whom she cherished, Ma’khi, Denzel, Jordan, Jayden, Jaxson, Milania, Mariah, Kaydence and Aria. Her oldest Brother Michael (Linda), and youngest sister Crystal. Along with uncle Joey (Kirsten), aunts Donna and JoAnn, nieces Tishana and Crystal, nephew Michael, many cousins and longtime loyal friends!

Our hope is in Jehovah and we look forward to his promise at John 5:28,29 in the near future!

We Thank you all for the many years of support, laughs and memories from 1805 Davidson Avenue to Durham, NC!


Agape',
The Family of Mary Louise Leftwich-Morris

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