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City of Oaks Funeral Home & Cremations

Obituary
Brian James Messina

Cary, North Carolina

Age 26.
Died 11/6/2021.

Brian James Messina, age 26, of Cary, NC, died on November 6, 2021 of a drug overdose while traveling in Colombia, South America. A 2018 summa cum laude graduate of North Carolina State University, Brian completed a double major in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Spanish. Brian is loved by countless family members, friends, students, and fellow travelers across the country and around the world. Passionate about travel, languages, and other cultures, Brian most recently explored Vietnam and Ecuador while teaching English and working as a freelance writer. Brian was complex. He was funny, kind, super smart, witty, sarcastic, introverted, and sometimes exuberant. Brian made us laugh, and he made us think. Brian is survived by his parents, Jim and Suzanne Messina of Cary, NC; his sisters, Caitlin and Stephanie Messina of Cary, NC; his grandparents, Jim and Karin Messina of Mansfield, MA, Judy Mellor of Apex, NC, and David Rulison of St. Augustine, FL; his uncle Stephen Messina of Quincy, MA; his aunt Katherine Messina of Northampton, MA; his aunt Heidi Karl and uncle Kevin Karl of Jacksonville, FL; and his cousins, Adam Karl and Lydia Karl of Orlando, FL. Brian was preceded in death by his grandfather Ken Pierce. A celebration of Brian’s life is planned for Saturday, December 4, 2021 at 2:30 pm at the Herbert C. Young Community Center, 101 Wilkinson Ave. in Cary, NC. All are welcome to attend. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the following organization that was important to Brian: Healing Transitions - A Place for Recovery of Raleigh, NC at https://healing-transitions.org/donate/.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.