City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation

Obituary
Ibby Lancaster III

Raleigh, North Carolina

Age 79.
Died 03/29/2022.

Ibby Lancaster III
Ibby Jackson Lancaster III, known as Jack or Jackie, passed away on March 29, 2022 after a brief battle with lung cancer. Jack was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma on January 18, 1943 to Ibby Jackson Lancaster Jr. And Viera Byrd Lancaster. He grew up in Parkton, North Carolina where he, his brother, Eddie, and his friends got into all types of mischief. He had severe asthma as a child and spent much of his time reading everything he could get his hands on. He graduated high school from Campbell College.

He took up skydiving as a hobby and would often land on campus after the weekend which prompted the Dean to tell his mother of his exploits. He was an accomplished parachutist, licensed parachute rigger, and pilot. He worked in television for many years in Wilmington and in Raleigh at WRAL where he was the floor director of the wrestling show. He also worked as a gunsmith and a stringed instrument luthier. He could build both guns and stringed instruments with immense beauty. In 1978, he started working at the College of Design at NC State where he would remain until his retirement in 2014. He worked in the Materials Lab (the Shop) making sure that students didn't lose any appendages and teaching them the ins and outs of the various pieces of machinery. If you proved to him that you weren't an idiot he would let you in on a secret: he wasn't so scary, but was in fact incredibly interesting and smarter than you could ever imagine. He was well-loved by students, staff, and faculty at the University far beyond what he could imagine. He was a true renaissance man, a jack-of-all-trades and a master of most of them. He could build anything (as long as he was inclined). If he couldn't find the right tool, he would make one himself. He was a true artist who made art because he liked it, and it didn't matter if anyone else did. He was a writer, a painter, a sculptor, a builder, a designer, a metalsmith, a woodworker, and a genius.

He was a fount of useless facts that he would insert into any conversation whether it was pertinent or not. He loved a good joke, especially if it was dirty. His absence leaves a void that can never be filled. He was preceded in death by his parents and younger brother and his first wife, Linda whom he remained dear friends with until her death. He is survived by his second wife and friend, Linda (yes they are both named Linda); his children Ibby Lancaster (Tammy), Christy Brown (Ryan), Nicholas Crosson (Brandi), and Jeremy Crosson (Brittney); his grandchildren, Dean, Caleb, Daegan, Casey, Ezra, Charlotte, and Ellis; and 5 great-grandchildren. A celebration of his life will be planned at a later date, and we hope all who can attend will as it will be an affair that Jack would appreciate. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the SECU Hospice House in Smithfield, NC https://www.johnstonhealth.org/donate/ways-to-give/hospice-fund/.

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