City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation
Obituary
Alford Jesse Holton Jr.
Durham, North Carolina
Age 84.
Died 09/27/2025.
He received his undergraduate degree in Music Education from East Carolina University. He was awarded the Master of Music Education from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Jesse was a huge sports fan. His favorite teams were the New York Yankees and the Duke basketball team. Jesse was a consummate musician, teaching kids to play their instruments with style and feeling, but also affirming each person whether they excelled or not. Jesse loved Jesus and loved teaching 4th and 5th graders at Triangle Grace Church about following Him. Jesse delighted in seeing God's world through traveling with his beloved wife, Nancy, including many years of teaching VBS in Haiti with their partners through Family Health Ministries.
Jesse lived out his faith in very tangible and unassuming ways. Michael’s wife, Felisha shared her love for “Mr. Jesse” in the following comments.
“Over the years, Michael has shared vivid memories of how much kindness, gentleness, and self-control his father showed when interacting with family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, his band students, church members etc. . Mr. Jesse was kind to people who were kind to him and kind to those who were not. He was kind to everyone he met. Mr. Jesse made being kind cool again, especially as a man.
Jesse honed and perfected his craft as a teacher at Jordan High School in Durham NC, where he founded the band program in 1964. He directed the bands at Jordan from 1964-1992. He taught at Githens Middle School in Durham, NC from 1964-1999. He taught in the UNCG summer music camp in Greensboro, NC for several years and initiated and organized the NC All State Honors Band program. He was initiated into the NC Bandmasters Hall of Fame in 2006 and inducted into the Jordan High School Academic Hall of Fame in 2014.
What more can we say about Jesse that those who knew him didn’t already feel in his companionship? Words can’t fully capture his life, legacy, or Spirit—but we can continue to honor his memory by sharing pieces of what he gave to this world.
Over the decades, Triangle Grace Church remained the center of his life with beloved wife and partner Nancy (his 'spiritual mentor' by his own words) where he poured himself into encouraging others in their own spiritual journeys, as “Mr. Jesse”—the faithful servant, the cheerleader, The Encourager.
Jesse will truly be missed. Recently Christine said of her dad, "Yes, he was our Dad and so special to us, but he was a great mentor to many other people, too. His impact and influence on the world around him are ever expansive and greater than we will ever know on Earth.“
He was preceded in death by his father, Alford Jesse Holton, and his mother, Mary Everding Holton. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Nancy Jayne Holton, his daughter, Christine J. Holton (spouse Dean Kanipe) and his son, Michael R. Holton (spouse Felisha J. Holton), and siblings Quinton Holton, Mary Gail Holton, and Dean Holton (spouse Faye Holton)
A Celebration of Life Service followed by a reception will be held on Saturday, October 18, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at Triangle Grace Church, 5001 Tudor Pl., Durham, NC 27713.
We are grateful beyond measure for the time we had with him. His legacy is alive in every phrase of music he inspired, every student he believed in, and every heart he encouraged.
In honor of Jesse's long-standing generosity, donations can be made in lieu of flowers to Jesse's most cherished and beloved organizations:
Family Health Ministries
https://familyhealthministries.org/
Haiti Outreach Ministries
https://www.haitiom.org/donate/
Triangle Grace Church
https://trianglegrace.org/local-outreach/
https://trianglegrace.org/global-outreach/
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.
$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.