City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation

Obituary
Edith Maye Wilkinson Buckley

Raleigh, North Carolina

Age 84.
Died 02/02/2024.

Edith Maye Wilkinson Buckley
Edith Maye Wilkinson Buckley
June 7, 1939 - February 2, 2024

Edith Maye Wilkinson Buckley passed away on February 2, 2024, as a result of a hemorrhagic stroke. After a week surrounded by her 4 children, she left us peacefully as the sun was setting and the sky was painted in brilliant shades of pink and oranges. Just the fanfare she would have loved for her heavenly sendoff.

Edith, or "Edie" to her friends and family, was born on June 7, 1939 to Thelma and Lloyd Wilkinson in Willow Springs, Missouri and was the youngest of 5 children. She graduated from Lebanon High School in 1957, and was homecoming queen her senior year. She attended Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Missouri and Southwest Missouri State College in Springfield, Missouri, before heading west with her older brother, Don, to attend Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. It was there she met the love of her life, James "Jim" William Buckley, whom she would marry in 1962 after graduating from Adams State.

Edie and Jim were inseparable during their nearly 60 years together and were loving and devoted parents to their four children and eventually their 8 grandchildren.

Jim's management career with the Montgomery Ward catalog division began in Chicago, Illinois, and would ultimately move the family to New Jersey; Albany, New York; and Baltimore, Maryland. Edie and Jim also lived in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Minneapolis, Minnesota before retiring to Wilmington, North Carolina. While raising her family, Edie worked as a business education and physical education teacher, although she eventually found her niche as a personal banker and worked for various banks and credit unions during their years in Baltimore, Winston-Salem, Minneapolis and Wilmington. Edie and Jim made friends wherever they were living, but it became clear that as long as they were together it did not matter where they were. In 2021, they moved to Raleigh, North Carolina to be closer to daughter Kerry and her family.

After Jim passed away on New Year's Day 2022, Edie was welcomed into a new group of female friends who were a tremendous support to her. She enjoyed their various activities, including dominoes, but mostly their fellowship. She was also an avid gardener. At the time of her passing, she was a parishioner at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Edie is survived by her four children, their spouses and eight grandchildren: Gregory (Hope) Buckley of Florence, Alabama; Laura (Henry) Hood of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Cynthia (Greg) Sword of Lawrenceville, Georgia; and Kerry (James) Regan of Wake Forest, North Carolina; and grandchildren Remi and James Buckley, Sydney and Emory Hood, Patrick and Alex Sword and Kaitlyn and Jackie Regan. She is also survived by her beloved and devoted "Schipoo" companion, Maggie, as well as many nieces, nephews and in-laws, including Jim's brothers and sister whom she considered her own family, as well as the surviving spouses of her own siblings, some of whom she still talked with almost weekly.

She is predeceased by her beloved husband, James William Buckley; parents Thelma and Lloyd Wilkinson, and all four of her siblings, Evelyn Renner, Dale Wilkinson, Don Wilkinson and Ron Wilkinson.

The date of a memorial mass at St. Catherine of Siena Church will be determined.

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

$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.

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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