City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation
Obituary
Helen Joan (Holt) Bullock
Morrisville, North Carolina
Age 92.
Died 11/08/2025.
May 29, 1933 - November 8, 2025
On November 8, 2025, Helen Joan (Holt) Bullock passed away peacefully in Raleigh, North Carolina surrounded by family. Joan was 92 years old.
Joan was born in Knoxville, Tennessee to parents Ottis Bryan Holt and Lela Francis (Brewer) Holt. The family moved to Niles, Ohio in 1936 where Joan spent the majority of her life before relocating to Raleigh, North Carolina in 2014.
A 1951 graduate of Niles McKinley High School and a proud 1954 graduate of the Youngstown Hospital Association Nursing School, Joan worked as a nurse and homemaker throughout her life.
Married to childhood sweetheart Richard Bullock since July 6, 1957, Joan was a devoted spouse, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She lovingly raised three children – Lisa Theiss (Gerald), Lynn Kittel (Jeffrey), and Bruce Bullock (Tiffani). She had five grandchildren and five great grandchildren who were the sparks of joy in her life.
A true empath, Joan felt deeply for people, but was especially passionate about the needs of children. She devoted her life to caring for others. Joan was an avid reader, a lover of classic Hollywood movies, a wizard at puzzles and trivia games, a loyal friend, and a seamstress who made most of her daughters’ clothes and her grandchildren’s Halloween costumes. She lived a life of service, organizing reunions, scholarships and activities for the 1951 Niles High School class, and she was an advocate for women’s and children’s causes until her final days.
Joan was preceded in death by her parents, her sister (Edith Roodhouse) and her brothers (Edward Holt and Jackie Holt).
She is survived by her beloved spouse of 68 years, Richard Lee Bullock, and her three children Lisa, Lynn and Bruce, five grandchildren (Molly Theiss Anderson (Lance), Matthew Theiss (Kendra), Taryn Kittel, Kevin Coleman (Jessie), and Quinn Van Ert (Casey)) and five great grandchildren (Josephine, Ellis, Charlotte, Bennett, and Bailey).
The family is planning a private memorial ceremony at Joan’s favorite vacation spot on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Memorial contributions can be sent to Joan’s favorite charity – St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. In addition, in honor of our caring wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother, the family asks that you make the world a more compassionate place by performing an act of random kindness.
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.