City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremation

Obituary
Sylvia Martel Bigbee

Garner, North Carolina

Age 73.
Died 02/20/2022.

Sylvia Martel Bigbee
Sylvia Martel Bigbee passed away on Sunday, February 20, 2022 at Wake Med Hospital in Raleigh, NC after suffering complications from a fall. She was proceeded in death by her devoted and loving husband James “Buddy” Woodrow Bigbee who passed Sunday, June 7, 2020 from lung disease. Sylvia was born in June 2, 1948 just after WWII in Wiesbaden, Germany to her mother Marta Oppermann, and moved to Washington, DC in 1960. Buddy and Sylvia met through mutual friends not long after Sylvia arrived in DC and joined together as one in marriage on October 1, 1965. As they began their journey in life, Buddy’s family embraced Sylvia, giving her the family she had never had, full of life and love, deeply rooted in God’s faith. After raising their family in Maryland and closing the family printing business, they set out for a new adventure in North Carolina were they forged new friendships and enjoyed spending time with their growing family.

Sylvia and Buddy were the daughter and son-in-law of the late Marta Oppermann, son and daughter in-law to the late John Bigbee and Penny Bigbee, the loving parents to Daniel Bigbee, Michele Smith (Bigbee) and Donna White DeLay (Bigbee), in-laws to Mark Smith and Erik DeLay, brother and sister-in-law to Kirsten Morisi (Bigbee) and Donald Morisi, to the late Babs Norwood (Bigbee), the late Gene Norwood, and the late Johnny Bigbee. They were Omi and Papa to their most precious love of all, their grandchildren, Jessica White, Benjamin White, Rachel Bigbee, James Smith, and Rebecca Baker (Smith) and great-granddaughters, Adilyn Smith and Ava Baker. They will forever be in our thoughts and hearts.

Due to the pandemic restrictions, the family was unable to hold services for Buddy so they felt it was only appropriate to hold a memorial service for both Buddy and Sylvia at Lee’s Funeral Home in Owings, Maryland in a celebration of their life together, their reunion in heaven, and their eternal love.

If you wish to make a donation in their memory in lieu of flowers, please consider donating to CAWL, Calvert Animal Welfare League or the American Lung Association.

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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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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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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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