SierraScape February - March 2010
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by Leslie Lihou
Programs and Speakers Committee Chair

Some Sierrans know Daniel Talonn as a treadwork "engineer" at trail maintenance events, cedar burner at glade restorations, and a slayer of invasive species in native ecosystems. Other people may have picked up trash with him along Highway 40, and squeezed lemons and hawked lemonade with him at fundraising festivals. Sierra Club members recognized him by electing him to Ex Com, by presenting him with an award for Sierran-of-the-Year and by honoring him with the trail-building crew's Golden Pulaski.

Service to others was Daniel's lifelong commitment. That service highlighted his values. His love of the natural world revealed itself through his activities at the Green Center where he helped build the geodesic greenhouse and a rain garden and almost single-handedly cleared honeysuckle from Ruth Park Woods. At Sierra Club glade restorations he tossed the bulky logs and slender spears of cedar into the flames. Later in the season he hiked to view the sun-loving grasses, forbs and flowers blanketing the rocky glades freed from the shade of cedars. During his whole career of glade restoration only one mishap occurred: his glasses fell onto the embers but a quick cohort retrieved them. At mealtime Daniel often provided his homemade treats, specialties like chocolate brownies or babaganoush. On trail-building outings Daniel engineered earthen stairs and stepping-stone bridges for foot travelers.

One of Jim Young's right-hand men, Daniel assembled lemonade booths, dismantled them at the end of the festivals and helped transport the pieces to storage. Often he worked in the booth for a day as well. Diane Dubois depended on Daniel to clean up a section of Highway 40 which Sierra Club adopted. If he could not come on the designated workday, Daniel picked up trash on his section alone. Serendipitously, treasures sometimes appeared at the highway clean-up. Once, when police returned unclaimed jewelry which he had found, Daniel pawned the jewelry and donated the money to Sierra Club.

Daniel displayed skill, efficiency and pride in his craft as he constructed harpsichords and a Renaissance flute used by Symphony members, as he photographed and drew the rock art of the pueblo Indians during a Sierra Club outing, as he meticulously scraped soil to reveal ancient artifacts in Israel, Australia and the British Isles, as he dug up dinosaurs on an Earthwatch trip. Music and art enriched Daniel's life. Often he entertained famous musicians at his home.

In 1933 Daniel's family fled Nazi Germany to settle in Palestine. There Daniel grew up and completed high school. To pursue a biomedical engineering career, he immigrated to St. Louis to attend Washington University. As a biomedical engineer, Daniel relished inventing and held 22 patents: for an oxygenator used in heart transplants and for an ultra fine syringe for diabetics among others. Even while volunteering at the St Louis Art Museum, he created tools to facilitate the cataloguing of slides of artwork. Although he married and raised a family in the U.S., he frequently contacted his roots by visiting Israel. Through celebrating Jewish holidays, he bonded his culture, ancestry and family.

Daniel braved a house fire which killed his wife and destroyed valuable memorabilia. Stoically he endured a brain tumor which eventually took his life but not his awareness that he had lived a good one. In October Daniel's physical presence died but his spirit lives in our hearts. He will be missed.