City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation

Obituary
Richard David Stolp

Raleigh, North Carolina

Age 69.
Died 12/05/2022.

Richard David Stolp
It is with great sadness and a profound sense of loss that we share the passing of Rick Stolp.

On Monday morning, December 5th, 2022, Rick’s spirit was released from it’s exhausted shell and is now jamming out on a Hammond B3 in Rock and Roll Heaven.

He left us, surrounded by his loving family, while sleeping peacefully, succumbing to a 22 year long battle with prostate cancer.

Richard David Stolp was born on February 15th, 1953 in Peoria, Illinois to the late Dick and Sue Stolp. He grew up in a ministerial home and moved many times as his father served different churches in Peoria, Morton, Charleston (where he met his best childhood friend, Rick Durham) and ultimately Springfield, Missouri. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the Florida Institute of Technology. While living Florida and working in his thriving clinical practice, he met his beloved wife, Sherry, and they married six months later in February of 1989.

Rick was a brilliant, intuitive, compassionate, psychologist who helped hundreds of couples create the relationship of their dreams for over forty years. Once Sherry completed her graduate degree, together they traveled nationally and internationally leading workshops and speaking at conferences about the miracle of Imago Relationship Therapy. Rick and Sherry also shared a thriving private practice in Raleigh.

Rick was an accomplished musician. He played keyboards and saxophone with Addison Grace in the early ‘70s traveling the same music circuit with Cheap Trick, Dan Fogelberg, REO Speedwagon, Joe Walsh and too many more to list. He loved playing and writing music. He played in several bands locally in the late ‘90s and throughout the following decade. For several years, many summer nights and every New Year’s Eve, the Stolp home was the place for “music night” or an impromptu jam session with a wealth of musician friends.

But perhaps Rick’s greatest passion was tent camping and hiking a trail in a State or National Park. He and his best friend, Larry Visser, would disappear into the distant wilderness for a time and come home renewed and feeling blessed by the beauty of nature.

Rick lived with cancer for 22 years, but for much of that time you wouldn’t know it. He carried on with his life–doing the things he cared about, being with the family and friends he loved–in a manner that was inspirational to those who knew him. He was matter-of-fact about his condition, but at the same time projected a naturally positive outlook on life. Rick fought the good fight and never laid his burdens on others. In the face of insurmountable odds, he kept hope alive and pressed onward to the very end.

Rick is survived by his wife, Sherry, their son, Richard, wife Claire, and their daughter Deanna, partner Jacob Hunt. He is also survived by his brightest light and most beloved baby granddaughter, Emma, daughter of Richard and Claire, who will grow up knowing all about the St. Louis Cardinals, The Beatles, finding yourself in the woods, fart jokes, and helping everyone you can. He is survived by his sister, Deborah Olson, whom he adored and well as many, many other nieces, nephews, cousins and a wealth of friends.

There will be a graveside service at Oakwood Cemetery Friday, December 9th at 1:00. Rick had chosen a green burial which is congruent with his desire to leave the smallest possible negative impact on nature.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Rick’s memory to the National Parks Foundation at http://give.nationalparks.org/goto/rickstolp.

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