To honor the life of Dru Milliken, in lieu of flowers, his family has established this fund to help with educational expenses for his sons, Brooks and Rowen. As the son of a retired teacher and the husband of a public school teacher of almost 30 years, Dru's sons' educations were important to him and his family has established this fundraiser to honor Dru's wishes to help his sons with their educational expenses.
John Drury (Dru) Milliken, 56, of Raleigh, North Carolina, died peacefully with his family by his side on January 23, 2023. Dru was born on June 1, 1966, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the youngest child of the late Lorraine Beaty Milliken and Jesse Edwards Milliken and lived his first few years in Siler City, NC but grew up in High Point, NC.
Dru attended Ledford Senior High School where he was a member of the marching band and a member of the golf team. During his senior year in high school, he also drove a school bus every day for the Davidson County School District. Dru attended and graduated from East Carolina University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Dru’s passions in life were his family, music, golf and animals.
While in Raleigh he and his wife were members of Edenton Street United Methodist Church where Dru participated in the Alpha Course. It was a life-changing experience, so much so that he participated in more than one and even led the course for others. Dru experienced God’s love and appreciated and accepted God’s gift to us.
For most of Dru’s professional career, he was self-employed as a salesman of institutional furnishings for schools, hospitals and offices. As a young child, his nickname at his childhood church was “Smiley” due to his infectious, constant grin. That smile served him well in his personal and professional life where he never met a stranger. Dru exuded warmth when meeting someone and had the special gift of being able to make anyone he met feel welcomed and at ease. Dru remembered small details from conversations that let people know he was genuinely interested in what they shared with him.
Having grown up living and working at a golf course, golf was a big part of Dru’s life – he loved the game – both playing it and watching it! It absolutely thrilled him when his younger son joined the golf team at Leesville High School and wanted to spend time hitting practice balls together! Dru loved both of his sons and was proud of them. It gave him tremendous pleasure to hear his older son recount his experiences and successes in his new career. Much like his father, his older son also never meets a stranger. Speaking of his older son, Dru was discovering what it meant to be “Grampy D” to his first grandchild and was quick to share her precious pictures with others.
While Dru’s out-going personality meant he was frequently “the life of the party”, he was also a tender-hearted man who loved his family and his animals. He leaves behind his much-loved wife of over 24 years, Lisa Thompkins Milliken and his sons, Drury Brooks Milliken of Breckenridge, CO and Rowen Tate McKenzie Milliken of Raleigh, NC as well as a number of other relatives who loved him dearly.
The family wishes to recognize the entire team at the WakeMed Surgical Intensive Care Unit for the truly compassionate and quality care they provided to Dru and the support they extended to all of his family members – thank you.
Dru was a registered organ donor and his family worked with HonorBridge, a local non-profit coordinator of organ, eye and tissue donations. HonorBridge’s staff compassionately navigated the family through the donation process in hopes that Dru’s gifts will bless and restore others.
A memorial service to celebrate Dru’s life will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, March 11th at Edenton Street United Methodist Church, Raleigh, NC.