City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation
Obituary
Jan Bakker
Apex, North Carolina
Age 86.
Died 06/22/2025.
Jan was born on July 9th 1938 in Delft, the Netherlands to the late Rederus Bakker and Johanna van der List, he was the youngest of 2 siblings.
Jan graduated from the University of Leyden with a degree in optics.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years Cornelia (van der Doe) Bakker,
And sisters Carolina Vermeulen, and Dirkje Parhan.
Jan and Cornelia met at the age of 17 and were married in 1960 in the Netherlands. They immigrated to the United States in 1961 to Lexington, Massachusetts when Jan was hired by the Itek Corporation. Here he worked on government contracts for the space program making optical equipment, wrote training manuals, and trained technicians the art of optics.
While in Massachusetts Jan and Corrie welcomed two girls; Carolyn van Kampen (wife of Erik), and Jacqueline Shepstone (wife of Stephen).
When his career later led him into sales of lasers and optics they settled in Berks County, Pennsylvania and completed thier family when they were blessed with another daughter; Erica Folk (wife of Richard).
Jan spent many years traveling across the globe for business and when it was time to retire they moved to Apex, North Carolina to be closer to thier daughters and grandchildren.
Jan and Corrie were Opa and Oma to seven grandchildren Riley Shepstone, Peri van Kampen, Brittany Shepstone, Brennan Shepstone, Gwen Folk, Nikolas Folk, and Kate Shepstone.
He was always looking for ways to serve the communities in which he lived.
These included being an usher in church, driving a school bus, meals on wheels, backpack buddies, and in his younger years teaching English to others immigrating to the US.
He will be remembered by his family and friends as a great storyteller and always the life of the party, he relished being the perfect host even if it wasn't his soiree.
His favorite place to be was on the water be it by a lake or an ocean. His favorite time of day was happy hour, where he could raise a glass and toast his family and friends. "Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Make it a happy one!"
A memorial service will be held on July 5,2025 at 11 AM at the Kirk of Kildaire Church.
200 High Meadow Drive Cary, NC.
The service will be live streamed on the @TheKirkofKildaire YouTube channel.
In lieu of flowers please consider making a donation to the Transitions Life of Care Hospice House at 200 Hospice Cir. Raleigh, NC. or at www.transitionslifecare.org
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
$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.
$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.