City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation
Obituary
Muriel Merris Coffey
Durham, North Carolina
Age 101.
Died 01/29/2024.
Muriel spent her childhood in East Orange, NJ. She enjoyed many outdoor activities such as roller skating and playing sports with her friends. She graduated from East Orange High School and married her high school sweetheart Charles A Coffey, Jr. in 1941. Charles served in the 805 Signal Corp during WWII. In the early 1950s, she worked for the Bendix Corporation making gear instruments for air force jets during the Korean War.
In October 1955, the family including their two boys, Chuck and John, moved from NJ to NC for Charles’ job at Westinghouse Corporation in Raleigh. The family eventually settled in the Brookhaven neighborhood. For 26 years, Muriel was an active member at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.
Muriel began her real estate career in 1979 in Raleigh, NC. The family moved to Chapel Hill for Charles’ retirement in 1981 where Muriel continued as a Realtor with A.C. Robbins and Associates. After the sudden death of her husband Charles in 1983, Muriel
moved to a smaller home and continued her real estate career.
As a devoted member of St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill for forty years, Muriel served in many areas including the Caring and Sharing Program, Inter-Faith Council, Eucharistic Ministry, Friends in Faith, and the Women’s Group.
Muriel enjoyed many hobbies including tap dancing, cake decorating, baking, cooking, and decoupage. During college basketball season, she enthusiastically pulled for the UNC Tarheels. She also loved traveling to Europe with family and friends.
She was predeceased in death by her husband, Charles Coffey Jr., in 1983; her siblings, William Merris of Dallas, Texas, Corrine (Jean) Digiore of Little Falls, NJ, and John J. Merris II, of Shrewsbury, NJ.
Surviving are her four children, Charles (Chuck) Coffey III and his wife Eleanor, John Coffey and his wife Araya, Kathy Coffey Jennings and her husband Spencer, and Susie Coffey Shachtman and her husband Mike.
Muriel has seven grandchildren, Daniel Coffey, Ethan Coffey, Catherine Shachtman, Laura Shachtman, Nicole (Coley) Shachtman, Kaitlin Jennings Newell, and Roman Jennings.
A funeral mass will be offered at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill, NC on Friday March 1 at 10:30 am. You are welcome to attend both the funeral mass and the reception at the church. Muriel’s favorite color was light pink so please feel free to wear a little pink to the service.
In lieu of flowers, you are invited to donate to one of the following ministries:
1. Food for the Poor:
“An interdenominational Christian ministry that serves the extreme poor in 18+ countries, providing food, housing, healthcare, education, fresh water, emergency relief, micro-enterprise solutions and much more. We have provided more than sixteen billion dollars in aid since its beginning in 1982.”
Give Online:
Please copy and paste the web address below and include the following account name and number in the “Dedicate this donation” field: Account #435817 Muriel Coffey
https://foodforthepoor.org/?form=donate-now&s_subsrc=topright
To Mail a check:
Paid To: Food for the Poor
Memo Blank: Account #435817 Muriel Coffey
6401 Lyons Road
Coconut Creek, FL 33073
2. St. Thomas More Caring & Sharing Ministry:
Please copy and paste the following web address to donate online and include in the “Designation” field: “Caring & Sharing Ministry in honor of Muriel M. Coffey”
https://secure.myvanco.com/YGJD/campaign/C-YGNA
Or Mail a Check to:
Paid To: St. Thomas More
Memo Blank: Caring & Sharing Ministry in honor of Muriel Coffey
940 Carmichael Street, Chapel Hill, NC. 27514
For additional information or for service details, please reach out to the family directly.
For additional information or for service details, please reach out to the family directly.
You can share this obituary using the following address, or click the button below to share on Facebook.
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.
$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.
$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.