City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation

Obituary
Connie Leigh Shields

Youngsville, North Carolina

Age 80.
Died 04/24/2024.

Connie Leigh Shields
Connie Leigh Shields ("Coker") passed away peacefully in her sleep at her home in Youngsville, NC surrounded by friends and family on April 24, 2024. She was born in Missouri on April 6, 1944. Prior to relocating to North Carolina in 2020 to be closer to her children, Connie lived for 41 years in Gridley, California where she worked as a bartender at the Moose Lodge and Stan's Lounge. She was an extremely talented seamstress and formed and successfully ran her own upholstery business for decades. Connie was an avid sports fan and could often be found rooting on her Kansas City Chiefs, the San Francisco Giants or the Sacramento Kings. She also loved to fish, hunt, attending concerts, motorcycles, the ocean and spending time with her family. To know Connie was to love her. Her quick wit and beautiful smile were only surpassed by her loving and giving heart. She was a loving mother, daughter, sister, aunt, wife, and friend. She was an angel here on earth and words cannot express how much she will be missed by all those that knew her.

Connie is survived by her children, Connitta Hess, Stephen Shewmake and his wife, Barbara, Ryan Coker and his wife, Heidi, and Robbin Coker, her sisters Barbara Dustin and Joyce Mack, her brother Bud Stephens and his wife Calene, her bonus sister and best friend, Paula Cassidy, her grandchildren, Michael Shewmake and his wife Selena, Amanda Gravenstein and her husband Ryan, Marisa Webb, Elyse Bowers, Reanna King, Katelyn (Hess) Lozinski and her husband Dakota, Brielyn Ledford and her husband Gregory, Callie Coker, Bryce Gagnon, Nathan Coker-Andreasen, her great grandchildren, Mikayah, Dax, Aaralynn, Zander, Selene, Piper, Griffin, Daniel, Elizabeth, Nicholas, Christopher, James, Malachie, Gabrielle, Ezra, Elliana, nieces and nephews, Bryan Stewart, Newell Stewart, Deanna Stewart Viger, Delora Stewart Hutchinson and her husband Anthony, Rhonda McKnight, Victoria Geiger and her husband Matthew, Jolene Schwartz, April Loveland and her husband Jim, Beverlee Grey, Melissa Davison and her husband William, Angela Gage, Clem Stephens and his wife Johnna in addition to numerous great nieces and nephews. She also had many bonus children that adopted her as their Mom throughout the years, including, but not limited to, Mickel Robinson and Kelly Rockwell Bott.

She leaves this world to be reunited with her husband Nathan Coker, her husband Richard Shields, her mother, Marjorie Scott, her Stepfather, Warren Scott, her daddy, Carnie Stephens, her sister, Euleta Stewart, her son-in-law Matthew Hess, her granddaughter Stephanie Shewmake, and her nephews, Roger Blevins, Jason Hughes and Lincoln Hughes.

Connie will be returned to California for an interment of ashes and a celebration of life at a date to be determined by the family.

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