City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation
Obituary
Sam Tompkins Walter, Jr.
Raleigh, North Carolina
Age 85.
Died 12/31/2023.
January 15, 1938 -- December 31, 2023
Sam Tompkins Walter, Jr. was born in Columbia, SC on January 15, 1938. He is the son of the late Sam Tompkins Walter and Alma Bunch Walter. Throughout his life, he was known as Tom or Tommy to friends and family.
Tom’s family moved from Columbia to Bamberg, SC in 1946, where he lived until heading off to college. After attending the University of South Carolina for a year, where he was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity, Tom received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. While at Annapolis, Tom was assigned to the 24th Company and played 150-pound football for a couple of seasons. Upon graduating in 1961 with a degree in electrical engineering, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and served with the 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines at Camp Pendleton as an artillery officer.
After leaving active duty in the Marine Corps, Tom moved his young family to Raleigh, NC where he began his investment advisor career with Merrill Lynch. For more than 40 years, Tom worked with such leading companies as E.F. Hutton, Prudential-Bache and Interstate / Johnson Lane in sales and sales management, earning numerous awards.
But Tom’s passion was his family and community. He was a volunteer football coach and board member for the Raleigh Youth Football Federation for more than five years, where all three of his children participated. Tom also served as a board member for the Cued Speech Center of Raleigh for more than a decade. For his efforts as a board member and chairman, Tom received recognition from U.S. President George H. W. Bush and South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell. In 1991, North Carolina Gov. James G. Martin awarded Tom with The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, one of the state’s highest honors, for his service to the community.
Tom is survived by the love of his life, Lois Frias Walter, his wife of 62 years, as well as his three children: Greg Walter and wife Donna of Charlotte, NC; Scott Walter and wife Laurel of Wake Forest, NC; and Lorae Walter Barnett and her husband Joey of Raleigh, NC. Tom is also survived by eight grandchildren. He also leaves behind a brother, Steve Walter and wife Diana of Clemson, SC; and a sister, Julia Pinckney Walter of Charleston, SC .
Anyone desiring to make a memorial tribute can do so in the form of a charitable donation to the Navy – Marine Corps Relief Society which serves the needs of both active duty and retired Sailors and Marines. https://www.nmcrs.org
Tom’s Celebration of Life service will be on Saturday, January 20th at Crossroads Fellowship on 13029 Keith Store Road in Wake Forest, NC. Visitation will be at 10 :00 AM with the service beginning at 11:00 AM.
For additional information or for service details, please reach out to the family directly.
You can share this obituary using the following address, or click the button below to share on Facebook.
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.
$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.
$5866.98
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.