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Daniel Scott Thee
1956 - 2018
Daniel Scott Thee, or Dan to his friends, was born in 1956 in Santa Monica, California as the youngest of six. As a young man, he worked for the USDA as a soil conservationist. He served his community on the Baker County Watershed Council and did research for the BLM and ODF&W.
He and his wife, Karen Barker Thee, married in the fall of 1983 shortly after establishing a small farm, “Thee Farm,” in North Powder, Oregon where they lived for over 20 years. Karen was also a falconer, and they spent many happy adventures traveling throughout the west and mid-west chasing grouse. Together they built a hunting cabin in Jordan Valley, their favorite place to fly on sage grouse.
Dan never did any thing in a small way; he was either all in or on his way to other interests.”
Dan was a lucky man who got to live his passion: breeding endangered birds of prey and exotic animals, taking him to many far parts of the world. Dan and Karen frequently visited the ruling family of Dubai and Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the founder of Emirates Airlines, visited the Thee Farm twice to purchase falcons on his way to Seattle. In 1995 he purchased 12 Boeing 727s for the airline and it was in fact Thee Farm falcons that were the first Emirates Airlines passengers to fly from Dubai to Seattle. Dan released the first peregrine falcon in Oregon for the purpose of their reintroduction and also bred the first white gyrfalcon in the state. Always with the welfare of the animals in mind, he ran a quality breeding program for llamas and yaks as well. In fact, he and Karen helped found the International Yak Association (IYAK).
He was a man of many words, filled with his energy, passion, and intensity for life. He embodied the value of caring for nature and the world around us from South America to the Middle East. He left his permanent imprint on the falconry community by improving the techniques for breeding endangered birds of prey
.
Some of the words his friends used to describe Dan include: falconer extraordinaire, humble, a good aura, kind, a good friend, fun, had a huge laugh, a lover of nature, a music lover, and an excellent animal trainer.
Two of Dan's most favorite songs were Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and Frank Sinatra's "Come Fly with Me". This says it all.
I worship God in the church of nature,
A cathedral only He could make,
The only temple worthy of His stature,
Where more than ritual is at stake.
In an open field, beneath a wintry sky,
1 offer up the ancient rites;
Where sage grouse pose and raptors fly,
I preside over the sacrifice.
But there's no altar with linens spread;
No hymnals nor books of prayer.
What need for wine or wafer bread?
It's passion, not play, for all out there.
And I'm neither rabbi nor priest,
Still on a Sabbath or a Sunday morn,
You will find me with a falcon on my fist,
Reverently hunting amid the sage and thorn.
