City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation
Obituary
Patricia Durden
Raleigh, North Carolina
Age 94.
Died 08/19/2025.
Pat was a creative and industrious person as well. I guess having five children makes a person that way. Any challenge presented was an opportunity for her to put her creativity and artistic mind to work, whether it was the layout of a room, the need for additional parking as her kids reached driving age, or recreating a beautiful dress or outfit that cost more than she wanted to spend. She never met a challenge she couldn't figure out.
Patricia was born on 9/15/1930 to Lesta Velna Parrish and Thomas Parish Walker. She lived in Wichita Falls, Texas, with her parents, her sister, Frances, and brothers, Parish and Dan. It was here she graduated high school and then attended Texas State College for Women. After graduation, she pursued a career in teaching art and English.
She met John A. Durden, Jr one Sunday at Lamar Baptist Church, where she was an active member. He was stationed at Shepard AFB for his brief stint in the Air Force. That Sunday he called home and announced that he had met the woman he was going to marry. Seven months later, they were married and moved to the University of Kansas where she worked on her masters degree while John completed his PhD. A job offer enticed them to South Charleston, WV where they lived for the next 25 years. It was here that they raised their 5 children.
She always had a deep calling to share the Gospel. When she and John arrived in South Charleston, they found no Southern Baptist church. After much prayer and soul searching, she reached out to the area missionary and put an ad in the paper inquiring about any interest in starting a Southern Baptist Church. Among the few responses, there was a retired minister and his wife, and a pianist and her husband. Mom designed the signs and bulletins and John taught Sunday School and led the music and thus, with 6 people, Highland Avenue Baptist Church was born. The church initially met in a bar (conveniently not opened on Sunday mornings), but eventually bought a house that was converted to a church. Highland Avenue Baptist Church grew and was where each of their five children found Jesus Christ as their Savior. She and John were immersed in the activities of the church: teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir, participating in mission activities, and any other church programs. As a result of this church, many other Southern Baptist churches were planted and established in the area. Pat also started several neighborhood Bible Studies and was able to lead many neighbors to the Lord. She reached out to wives of Union Carbide employees who had moved from other countries to help them learn English and acclimate to life in the US. She used the Bible as her primary teaching source. She truly never missed an opportunity to talk about Jesus.
She was pre-deceased by her husband John, her parents and her siblings, all of whom she has anticipated joining in heaven. They left five children; Phil (Becky) of South Haven, Michigan; Sara Rooker of Raleigh, North Carolina; Tom (Gwen) of Rockport, Texas; Paul (Robin) of Bartlett, Tennessee; Anne Doman of Raleigh, North Carolina; Grandchildren: Jennifer (Johnnie), Bryan (Ashley), Sarah (Kevin), Andrew (Aubrey), Tim, Keaton, Kaya; Kristopher (Tara), Megan; Whitney (Josh), Zachary (Melissa), Duy (Linh), Andrew, Sable (Deim); Violet (James), Matthew; Jed (Naomi), Beth (James), Kate, and 27 Great Grandchildren with one on the way.
We pray that the life she lived and the Godly influence on the lives of all her family and friends will continue to be passed on.
A service celebrating her life will be held on her 95th birthday, September 15, 2025 at Trinity Baptist Church on Six Forks Rd with visitation and receiving of friends from 1-2 pm and service following at 2:00.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in her memory to the missions fund of Trinity Baptist Church.
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
$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.
$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.
$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.
$1596.75
City of Oaks Funeral Home and Cremation provides an affordable cremation with a private family viewing. A private family viewing allows up to 10 immediate family members or friends to spend time with a loved one when a public visitation is not preferred.
$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.
$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.
$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.