City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation
Obituary
Veena Goel
Cary, North Carolina
Age 82.
Died 09/04/2024.
Dr. Veena Goel was double board-certified in both nuclear medicine and pathology. While living in upstate NY, she enjoyed many professional roles during her almost 60-year career in medicine at various local and regional hospitals and labs. She also served as a physician in the Army Reserve, from which she retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.
Her favorite role was as a general practitioner, having an established practice for over 40 years in Mechanicville, NY. She cared for both young and elderly, often treating multiple generations of families. Her patients, the relationships she shared with them, and her sense of service in supporting the community, meant a great deal to her. It was common for her to make house calls and share her personal phone number with patients. In professional roles throughout her career, she introduced her children to her love of medicine and service - Veena often brought her children to the lab or her office during holidays, weekends and summers - sharing with them her curiosity and a model for their own future careers - whether in medicine or not. After many years of service, she retired from the practice of medicine in 2022, and relocated to North Carolina to enjoy the company of her children and grandchildren.
Veena was married to Dr. Brij G Goel for almost 25 years. He preceded her in death in 1990, after a short battle with leukemia. Together they raised five children - three daughters, Niti (Dennis Walling), Nisha, and Renu (Gregory Renck), and two sons, Prateek and Prashant. With her three brothers-in-law and respective wives having each passed away before her, she was the matriarch of her husband’s family. She was also preceded in death by her parents. In addition to her children, Veena is survived by her two sons-in-law, seven grandchildren; her brother and his wife, Sudhir and Tej Bansal; and her sister and her husband, Sudha and Vinod Singhal; as well as several nieces, nephews, grand nieces, and grand nephews.
Veena was an active member of her community in upstate NY, including serving as president of TRICIA (Tri-City India Association) in 1981. During her tenure, she established the first Spring Festival of India celebration. This event now takes place annually in June, at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center, Albany, NY. With generosity of time and philanthropy, Veena supported several charitable organizations, including a local women’s shelter. She took part in several fund-raising events, including walking the London Marathon in 1998 with the Leukemia Society’s ‘Team in Training’, in memory of her husband. She similarly participated in the 60-mile, 3-day Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Walk in 2000. Additionally, in memory of her husband, a cardiologist, she funded a library and a cardiac catheterization suite at local hospitals as well as an annual scholarship at Niskayuna High School - presented to a graduating high school senior planning a professional career in the health sciences.
Veena loved to travel. She traveled extensively around the world, intrigued by different expressions of nature as well as diverse cultures and arts. In addition to regular trips to India, which retained a sense of home for her throughout her life, she traveled for pleasure. Her extensive travel notably included opportunities afforded by the Army Reserve to explore Europe, which she used to also support her then teenage children to appreciate travel at a formative age. She encouraged her grandchildren to travel as much as possible and discover art and cultures in all its forms. She also participated in several altruistic trips to provide medical care to the disadvantaged communities of both Ghana and Guatemala. She fondly spoke of two different round-the-world trips which led her to various wonders of the world and to meet fascinating people.
Veena’s travels, along with a natural inquisitiveness made her incredibly well-read and versed in the arts. She enjoyed engaging in conversations about wide-ranging themes including painting, sculpture, poetry, literature, religion and Shakespeare. She was well-loved by friends and family for her numerous stories regarding her life experiences and her sense of humor. She is already deeply missed.
The family entrusted City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremations with a private cremation service. In Veena’s memory, the family requests donations to any of the following charitable organizations: St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis TN; University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX; Hindu Society of North Carolina in Morrisville, NC; Albany Medical College in Albany, NY; Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Inc in Ryebrook, NY; Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in Dallas, TX; Duke Cancer Institute Fund of Duke University in Durham, NC; and Transitions Hospice Home, in Raleigh, NC.
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.
$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.