City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation
Obituary
Mary Will Thomas
Raleigh, North Carolina
Age 88.
Died 07/06/2025.
Born on May 4,1937, in Clinton, SC to Joseph Kindred Long, PH.D and Pearl Marie Wilson, Mary Will moved to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1938 before moving to Greenville, North Carolina in 1947. She graduated from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 1959 where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi Sorority and a cheerleader. She remained a fervent, diehard Tar Heel fan throughout her life, and her love of sports contributed to making her a formidable tennis opponent on the courts as well.
Mary Will began her long career in education as a teacher at Carr Junior High in Durham, North Carolina. She served as founder and principal of Hawaii Pre-Kindergarten School at Kaneoh Marine Corps Air Station. From 1965-1973, Mary Will taught kindergarten at Charlotte Country Day School in Charlotte, NC. After moving to Tampa in 1973, she joined the faculty of Berkeley Preparatory School where she taught first grade, kindergarten, Lower School French and Language Arts. Students who were fortunate to have her as a teacher attest to her gift as a motivator, essential to all good teachers. Among her other responsibilities, she was the first faculty sponsor of the Berkeley cheerleaders. She served as Assistant Head of Lower School from 1980-83 and was appointed Berkeley’s first Director of Admissions in 1984. Mary Will loved her work in admissions and recognized the potential and individuality of each and every child.
In 1998, Mary Will was awarded the Berkeley Shield for Service to the School, presented infrequently by the Headmaster “to honor those people who have given especially unusual singular and meritorious service to the school.” In addition, the 2006 yearbook was dedicated to her upon her retirement in appreciation of her 33 years of service to the School, as well as given the title of Director of Admissions Emeritus.
Mary Will was recognized in Tampa, the State of Florida, and nationally for her expertise in the area of admissions and marketing. She received The Everett E. Gourley Award for SSATB in 2005 “for inspirational and magnanimous service to colleagues and students.” After retirement from Berkeley, she worked briefly as a director of outreach for SSATB, now Enrollment Management Association.
In 2019, Mary Will moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she lived the remainder of her years, near the beautiful UNC campus and in close proximity to her beloved, incredibly supportive cousin, Lynn Robbins and her husband, A.C. “Ace” Robbins. A special thank you to very close family friend, Emma Carter, who devoted much of her time accompanying Mary Will during her final months, and her eventual passing at Transitions Life Care. Mary Will cherished her relationship with Emma, the daughter of Mary Britton Summey (deceased), one of Mary Will’s closest and oldest friends.
Mary Will is survived by her son, Kenneth “Kenny” Long Thomas, who is living and working in the NYC area as Head of Design and Photography for Todd Snyder NY and her grandson Tate Harding Thomas who recently graduated from middle school. She also leaves behind beloved cousins: Nancy Delbridge, Raye Early, Glenn Griffin and his son Jefferson Griffin, William Ivey Long, Edwin and Alice Miller, and Craig and Suzanne Miller.
A private memorial service for family members will be held in Seaboard, North Carolina where her parents are buried. The family would like to express their appreciation to the wonderful staff at the William M. Dunlap Center at Transitions Life Care in Raleigh, North Carolina for the kindness and care they gave to Mary Will during her final days.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the William M. Dunlap Center at Transitions Life Care (transitionslifecare.org) or to the Endowed Alumni Scholarship fund at Berkeley Preparatory School (berkeleyprep.org).
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.
$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.