Flora Dunbar

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

May 2, 1946 - April 3, 2023

Flora Melvin Dunbar, 76 (May 2, 1946–April 3, 2023), of Charlotte NC, passed away peacefully in the Levine & Dickson Hospice House at Southminster, Charlotte. She was born Flora Shields Melvin to the late Perry Jenkins Melvin and Katharine Gheen Shields Melvin of Roseboro, NC. She attended St. Mary’s Academy in Raleigh, Salem College in Winston Salem NC, and received a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology from East Carolina University.

Flora began her career as a clinical psychologist in Boone NC, working with adults in community mental health as a psychotherapist. In 1974 she moved to Chapel Hill and worked for Orange County Mental Health where her focus turned to evaluating and treating children with developmental and psychological difficulties. She also conducted play therapy and parent counseling at KidSCope Early Learning Center in Chapel Hill. At Mary’s House In Greensboro she evaluated and made treatment recommendations for substance-addicted young women and their young children. In Emerald Isle/Cape Carteret, she led a clinical team treating children and families in their home settings. She also saw clients in her private practice as a clinical counselor for children, adolescents and adults, most recently through online Telehealth consultations.

In 1979 she married Jay Dunbar, and together they purchased “Waystation Farm,” 77 wooded acres with a 100+ year old house near the Haw River in Chatham County. They refurbished the house and lived there till 1987, when they moved to Chapel Hill. Their daughter Kat was born in June 1984. After their divorce, Flora lived in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Emerald Isle, Greensboro, and ultimately near her daughter’s family in Charlotte, continuing her professional practice in all these locations.

She enjoyed art, music, and crafts, spending time with each—sketching, playing guitar, and, inspired by cousins Curtis and Virginia Chase, weaving with a floor loom. Her mother’s skills as a genealogist influenced her research-based approach to new things. Brought up Episcopalian, she became a spiritual seeker, curious about the spiritual potential within each of us.

Her belief in fair treatment for all people led to an early interest in equal rights for women and minorities. With her friend Annie Marra, during their freshman year at Salem College, she joined CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, volunteering to help people of color register to vote. She and Annie were both present at a speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Goler Metropolitan AME Zion Church on April 13, 1964.

In her professional career Flora spearheaded an effort to persuade the NC Psychology Board and the State Legislature to permit Master’s level psychologists to practice without having to be supervised. When this policy was finally approved, NCAPP (The North Carolina Association of Professional Psychologists) created an annual service award in her honor: the Flora Dunbar Service Award “in recognition of outstanding service in working to promote the delivery of psychological services to the citizens of North Carolina.” She was both the first and the fifth recipient in 1995 and 1999.

Flora’s defining quality was empathy. She saw the potential adult in children, and the child in each adult. She was a generous listener with a calm, even temperament and a gentle voice. She was earnest in her calling, describing her work as “…important, meaningful, and beneficial, very satisfying, very fulfilling. Working with children gave me a lot of pleasure. I got a lot of that from my mother. Our parents teach us how to relate and how to care and how to give. I always related well with young children, found them interesting and fascinating. I was curious why they did what they did, what their motivations were, what was going on in their heads. I felt I was good at it, and that I was a real support to many people, not everyone, but I made a difference. It was a good use of my time, personally and professionally. I was fortunate to have a profession that could make a real offering to others.”

Flora was an old soul, a lover of humanity, a kind hearted, optimistic, and empathetic person, an incredibly loving and selfless mom, and a proud and grateful Nana.

She is survived by her daughter, Katharine Shields Dunbar Linker, son-in-law Jeffrey Reid Linker Jr., and granddaughter Lillian Flora (Lily) Linker of Charlotte, former husband James Yarborough (Jay) Dunbar (wife Kathleen Anne Cusick) of Chapel Hill, sister-in-law Angela Coston (Angel) Melvin of Greenville NC, niece Claire Melvin Oliver (husband Neil, son Stephen and daughter Sophie) of New Bern, nephew Cameron Shields Melvin (wife Janet Flores) of Orlando FL, and friends Patricia Guarino of Emerald Isle, Annie Marra of Chapel Hill, and Kathy Zimmerman of Hillsborough. She was pre-deceased by her brother, John Shields Melvin of Greenville NC.

The Dunbar Family have entrusted arrangements to Cremation Society of Charlotte.