Flavia Craft Millikan, April 27, 1932 – May 15, 2025

Flavia Millikan was born in New Orleans, the daughter of Hugh Craft and Jean Preston Craft, and the younger sister of Donna Frank. The family moved to the Los Angeles area when Flavia was nine years old.

Flavia graduated from Glendale High School, where she excelled at science and sports and met her future husband, Donald Hayes Millikan. Don and Flavia were married on August 23,1952. Soon afterwards, the young couple embarked on an adventure - crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary for a year of study and travel in Europe, supported by a scholarship from the Rotary Club.

After completing an undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature and working part-time as a dental hygienist to help support a young family in San Diego, Flavia increasingly pursued long-time interests in Jungian psychology, Greek mythology and related fields. 

In 1979, Flavia completed a master’s degree in Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology at the University of Redlands. Her master’s thesis, entitled “Ancient and Modern Healing: A Study of an Archetype” compared contemporary experiences in holistic medicine with healing processes associated with the cult of Asclepius in ancient Greece. (Her research highlighted the importance of soul – in addition to the common triad of body, mind, and spirit as a ‘feminine and closer-to-life’ aspect of healing missing in much of the practice of holistic medicine in modern western societies).

Flavia had a particular interest in Sandplay Therapy, and was a Certified Teaching Member of Sandplay Therapists of America (STA) and of the International Society of Sandplay Therapy. Her published works include the essay “Hestia: Goddess of Health and Fire” in the Journal of Sandplay Therapy (1992). She was known as a very patient, kind and knowledgeable teacher. Her group consultation went for ten plus years in her Glen Ellen home office.

Don and Flavia had three children, Robert, Brent, and Ann. Over the years, she was unwavering in her support of their interests in such diverse areas as music, science and environmental justice.

During 1982-1994, Flavia lived in Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she worked as a hospice counselor, a certified Marriage and Family Therapist and a specialist in Sandplay therapy. She also led dream groups, taught night classes and co-led seminars. A warm, sociable person, she had a gift for bringing people together.

In 1994, Flavia moved to the village of Glen Ellen in Sonoma Valley, north of San Francisco. While continuing her previous work, Flavia pursued other interests, such as teaching field classes about native plants and animals with young children at the nearby Bouverie Preserve of Audubon Ranch.  

Flavia always maintained a profound connection with the natural world, as evidenced by a love for the ‘golden rolling hills’ of Northern California and the Pacific Ocean. She nurtured prolific vegetable gardens wherever she lived. At her home in Glen Ellen, she kept an elegant rose garden and a special patio with lounge chairs to sit beneath oak and redwood trees. She was an avid bird-watcher, and enjoyed the company of squirrels, wild turkeys, deer and other critters in Glen Ellen. A golden retriever Matryona, and a cat Rosie were long-time companions.

Her diverse interests were evidenced by an impressive library, modern artworks, and an amazing collection of Sandplay figures from around the world. Flavia had a love of musical genres that spanned from folk singers like Sam Hinton, Bob Dylan and Kate Wolf to modern classical composers like Maurice Duruflé, Gustav Mahler and Arvo Pärt, and the Brazilian composer and singer Milton Nascimento. She was a member of the Grace Cathedral community in San Francisco.

After her husband, Don Millikan, passed away on April 16, 2023, Flavia moved to Saint Paul, to be near her daughter Ann, who cared for her until her passing on May 15, 2025, soon after celebrating her 93rd birthday. Flavia is survived by her children, Ann and Brent, and her grandchildren Pedro and Gabriela, who love and miss her dearly.

A memorial service for Flavia C. Millikan and burial for her and her husband Donald H. Millikan will be held on Friday, October 24, 2025, 2:00pm at The Chapel of the Cross, 304 East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

Please feel free to share comments and remembrances on the Tribute Wall below. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests planting a tree in Flavia’s honor.