Wilmington’s newest funeral home

Just minutes from Mayfaire, Wrighstville Beach and midtown Wilmington, Coble Funeral & Cremation Service cares for families from all walks of life with the high level of compassion and devotion. We accommodate gatherings large and small and plan both traditional funerals and contemporary memorials. Our experienced team understands and honors multicultural funerals and religious preferences, including overnight visitations, kosher catering and ritual washing.  

We're proud of the expansive new building off Shipyard Boulevard how it will allow us to serve the  community like no funeral home in this area has done before. Carefully designed for today's families, the location includes soothing colors and furnishings throughout. It's large enough to host multiple families at once—while also allowing families the privacy they desire.

In addition, the beautiful new building features a unique and impressive chapel for families to gather. The contemporary, light-filled room includes rustic, exposed beams that give a nod to this unique design element often found in historic American churches. With high ceilings and wood-effect tile flooring, the sweeping space can accommodate hundreds of guests and is easily transformed from a traditional chapel setting with rows of chairs, to a reception hall with round tables. Perfect for life celebrations of all kinds, this chapel area can also serve as anything from a supper club to a disco setting.

Funeral home parking is plentiful, and a carport allows guests to enter and exit the building and be protected from the weather. Proximity to New Hanover Regional Medical Center and Lower Cape Fear LifeCare gives some families an added level of comfort.

Personalized funerals and memorials

Serving families from the new building, the Coble staff is an experienced and compassionate team who consistently go above and beyond to ensure families receive excellent service and personal care.

When you first meet with a Coble funeral director, we'll ask questions about your loved one: what he liked to do, what she cherished, how he thought about the world, how she liked to spend time. From there, we'll help you create a service that speaks to the unique life of your loved one, whether that's a traditional religious funeral or a contemporary and upbeat celebration of life. You can provide inspiration with a memory of your loved one. From scrapbooking to sailboats, guitars to golf balls, prize-winning roses to prize-winning roadsters, we take the things that mattered to that special person and weave them together to create a singular, heartfelt memorial. We're here to help tell the special story of your loved one's life—or for yourself if you are planning in advance.

Our team is experienced in planning catered events. Whether it's a breakfast buffet after a morning service, cake and coffee in the afternoon, or a full dinner reception, just let us know what you have in mind. We'll handle food, drink, decor and more. We'll also help you write an obituary, create a tribute video for the service and assist you in choosing music.

Cremation services

Not everyone knows that there are many cremation options. If you are interested in this increasingly common decision, the funeral home team can explain the process and different choices. From a direct cremation without a memorial service to a witness cremation or a full funeral service before or after the cremation, we help you understand this option and can handle all of the cremation arrangements.

A loved one's urn or ashes may be picked up at the funeral home, or we can deliver them to your home in person or by mail. We also offer cremation jewelry, which is a special way to keep the memory of a loved one close.

Planning ahead

At Coble Funeral & Cremation Service, we recognize that funeral arrangements and associated expenses can be overwhelming. In addition to assisting during a time of immediate need, our funeral directors specialize in working with families to plan ahead. By preparing in advance, you provide a sense of relief, peace of mind and comfort for your loved ones while ensuring your wishes are met and your budget is maintained. A complimentary planning guide comes with no obligation.

As part of the Dignity Memorial^® network, we offer a selection of unmatched services. They include the following and much more:

• Relocation Protection.* When you have a prepaid plan with a Dignity Memorial provider and wish to transfer the plan to another location more than 75 miles away, every detail of your plan moves with you. All of our pre-paid plans are transferable and will be honored by any of the qualifying Dignity Memorial providers in North America. That’s a promise you won’t find anywhere else.
• Purchase Protection Plan.* Should you pass away before your purchased cemetery property is fully paid for, your family will receive some financial relief. Our Purchase Protection Plan will help take care of any remaining balance due to the cemetery. Purchaser must be under 65 years of age; maximum forgiven balance not to exceed $5,000. 
• 100% guaranteed satisfaction. Our goal is to provide you with the absolute best service possible. If there’s something we can do better before, during or after a service, we want you to tell us.

*Certain restrictions apply. 

Greenlawn Memorial Park

In 1948, our founding family created a cemetery featuring a series of biblical gardens to serve the local North Carolina community, from Murrayville to Myrtle Grove. From the sand dunes rose a lush lawn of meticulously manicured greenery and trees, and today, the sandy soil remains a living link to local beaches.

A premier nondenominational cemetery with a Muslim section and a veterans section,  Greenlawn Memorial Park serves families of all traditions and all faiths. With acres of well-kept lawns, the cemetery provides both ground burial and mausoleum options, as well as cremation gardens with burial spaces, scattering gardens and niches. Winding streets and sidewalks make the beautiful gardens peaceful and easy to navigate.

Greenlawn is a serene final resting place for those we have loved and a calming environment for families and friends to reflect and remember.

Here for you

Our funeral directors and staff are among the most experienced professionals in family care. There is absolutely no request too small or too large when it comes to offering a family exactly what they want.

You are welcome to call us any time of the day, any day of the week, for immediate assistance. We also invite you to come in to tour the funeral home or cemetery and meet our team. We would be honored to show you around and help your family plan a funeral or cremation in Wilmington.

Oleander Memorial Gardens

A 15-minute drive away, on the other side of Wilmington, Oleander Memorial Gardens has served our community since 1967. With a 2-acre lake and mature live oaks adorned with flowing Spanish moss, the approximately 40-acre cemetery was once the Coble family’s horse farm. Today, it’s a beautiful place of remembrance.

Whether you prefer traditional burial, mausoleum entombment or cremation memorialization, there are plenty of options available at Oleander Memorial Gardens. Our team can coordinate with Oleander Memorial Gardens for you.

History

Coble Funeral Service was established in 1936 by Randolph Ladd Coble Sr. and his wife, Iona. The building was located at 416 Walnut St. in Wilmington, North Carolina, following the purchase of Harrell Funeral Home. The Cobles created a trusted family business, committed to service, excellence and quality. A new funeral home building was constructed and opened at 3915 Oleander Drive in June of 1961.

In 1965, Coble Funeral Service opened Oleander Memorial Gardens Cemetery at Bradley Creek. Shortly thereafter, a second funeral home was built in Supply, North Carolina, to serve the community of lower Brunswick County.

Twenty years later, in 1985, the business merged with former Ward-Smith Funeral Home and Greenlawn Memorial Park Cemetery. At that time, it became Coble Ward-Smith Funeral & Cremation Service in affiliation with Greenlawn Memorial Park and Oleander Memorial Gardens.

As the community of Wilmington grew, so did we, and in the spring of 2020, a brand-new Coble Funeral & Cremation Service opened at Greenlawn Memorial Park. The state-of-the-art funeral home replaced the Oleander Drive location and provides the community with the first establishment to offer the convenience of making all funeral and burial arrangements in one beautiful location.