City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation

Obituary
J.S. Fletcher

Raleigh, North Carolina

Age 73.
Died 06/19/2023.

J.S. Fletcher
J.S. Fletcher, “Fletch,” went to his heavenly home June 19, 2023, with his loving wife, Kathy Newbern, and beloved friend, Stella Shelton, by his side, peacefully ending his ongoing battle with cancer. He was indeed a fighter.

A native of Ohio, he was a 1968 graduate of Yorkville High School, where he was an outstanding football player and scholar. He received his Masters degree in 1978 from Bowling Green State University, where he taught two years as a graduate assistant in English. He lived in Milford, OH, where he taught middle school for four years and worked for Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel during summers and school breaks.

Both Bingo lovers, Fletcher and his sister, Jodee Vostatek (now deceased), shared a close relationship.

A poet and a writer, Fletcher also produced comedy shows after moving to the NC Outer Banks.

Most importantly, he met the love of his life while living in Dare County where he and Kathy eventually married in 1994 against an ocean backdrop. Fletcher loved to play in the water, swim, scuba dive and snorkel.

At the coast, they took a leap of faith to create a new literary genre and start their publishing business, YourNovel.com, which they continued after moving to Raleigh in 1996.

Their personalized romance adventure novel business, has successfully celebrated thousands of couples’ love for each other for 31 years, earning news coverage on national and regional media.

Simultaneously, they began their long career in award-winning travel writing and photography. Ultimately their joint occupations took them to 76 countries, all seven continents, and aboard 81 cruises.

Fletcher and Kathy specialized in covering romantic destinations (no shocker there), high-end luxury properties, spas and cruising. What they saw and did in their travel writing served as inspiration for the 25 books they created as “Fletcher Newbern” for YourNovel.com. The company brought on other writers resulting in 50+ books and ebooks in the company’s lineup. Fletcher especially enjoyed encouraging, coaching and editing their contributions.

Everyone who knows Fletcher and Kathy will tell you that theirs was a love affair for the ages, a shining example of maintaining romance for the duration of their relationship.

Their mantra: “Every day is a honeymoon if you make it one.”

Please note: The Celebration of Life service will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, 1924 Capital Blvd., Raleigh, NC 27604

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