Elizabeth Hughes Oglesby

CARY - Elizabeth Hughes Oglesby, 89, passed away peacefully on Sunday, May 11, 2025, at WakeMed-Cary surrounded by her family.

She was born in Orangeburg County, South Carolina on August 2, 1935, the daughter of the late Allie and Bessie Hughes.

After graduating, Elizabeth embarked on a series of travels with her friends and family, exploring the great American West and Europe. This was the beginning of a life-long love of travel. Over the course of her life, she revisited Europe several times and explored landscapes as varied as the tropics of Hawaii and the Rocky Mountains of Canada.

After college, Elizabeth secured a position as a grade school teacher in Denver, Colorado, where she learned to ski and met her future husband. She began a masters degree program at the University of Florida, but left when she married. In this next phase of her life, she dedicated herself full time to raising her two young sons, Doug and Kent.

The family moved to North Carolina in the early seventies and Elizabeth called the Raleigh/Cary area her home for the rest of her life. When her sons reached school age, she returned to work full time, first as a research assistant with a private firm and then as a Housing Supervisor at NC State University. She remained in this job until retirement in the early 2000's. Elizabeth was active in the church and had many friends at First Baptist in Raleigh for nearly five decades.

Elizabeth was well-known for her intelligence and sharp memory, which she retained until the end. She was fiercely independent, and sometimes downright stubborn, but always extremely generous. She loved her family dearly and treasured her friends. She showed this through her thoughtful gifts, gestures and words of kindness and encouragement.

In addition to her parents, Elizabeth was preceded in death by her brother, Albert Lee "Al" Hughes, Jr.

She is survived by her sons, Douglas Charles Oglesby and wife, Darlene of Bordeaux, France, and Kent Stephen Oglesby and wife, Maggie of Landenberg, PA; grandchildren, Ian Oglesby, Benjamin Oglesby, Stephen Oglesby, Jack Oglesby, and Kam Oglesby; and a host of extended family.

Funeral service will be held at 11:00 AM on Thursday, May 15, 2025, at Bryan-Lee Funeral Home, located at 831 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh, NC 27604. Burial will follow in Historic Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Elizabeth's memory to The Nature Conservancy at www.preserve.nature.org

Funeral arrangements are by Bryan-Lee Funeral Home of Raleigh. Online condolences may be made at www.bryan-leefuneralhome.com