JOHN EDWARD TALLEY

JOHN EDWARD TALLEY After more than 30 years of being a leader in the psychological arena in Santa Fe, John Edward Talley surprised and saddened us all by dying suddenly this Saturday, December 15th of undiscovered pneumonia. Born in Enid, Oklahoma, February 25th 1928, he visited the Gallinas Canyon near Santa Fe as a teen-ager and swore to return. After public schooling in Enid, he went to Dartmouth College with the intention of teaching English and being a writer. John belonged to a family of doctors and his father and his maternal grandfather wished him to continue the medical tradition. During the Korean war, he was conscripted and sent to a hospital train unit in Germany and later worked with recovering soldiers at the Presidio in San Francisco. There he met Rosemary Rife whom he married in Enid, Oklahoma in 1955. His medical experiences in the military inspired him to become a doctor after all. He graduated from Oklahoma University Medical School and during these studies he realized he wanted to be a psychiatrist. He had the good fortune of being accepted to a Residency at Langley Porter at the University of California San Francisco where he was introduced to the psychology of C.G. Jung. This became his intense interest and thus he began his analysis and went on to graduate from the C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco. After practicing in San Francisco for a number of years, in 1969 he fulfilled his childhood dream of moving to Santa Fe with his family including three boys and a daughter: Christopher Jesse, Peter Evans, Mark Randall, and Emily Margaret. John was the first Jungian psychoanalyst in Santa Fe, and he became a dynamic force for Jungian psychology in New Mexico. Through this work he met fellow Jungian psychoanalyst Joan Buresch, recently arrived from studies in Zurich, Switzerland. She became his collaborator - and in time his wife. He was a founding member of the Interregional Society of Jungian Analysts and later a founder of the C.G. Jung Institute of Santa Fe. The Institute has become firmly established and includes 23 psychoanalysts practicing in New Mexico. In addition to his private practice, he also consulted at the State Hospital in Las Vegas, New Mexico and was an adjunct Professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine where he introduced Jungian theory and practice into his teaching and supervision of psychiatric residents. His first love- writing literature, never diminished and over the last 15 years he took up writing seriously and recently completed a 450 page book, Ambition and Salvation about his forebears and their adventures on the Oklahoma frontier including the acquisition of the Cherokee Strip. A book now in search of a publisher. At heart John was a story teller. He had the unique ability to enjoy listening to his stories while holding others transfixed. He is pre-deceased by his father, Evans and mother, Dorothy; his son, Christopher Jesse Talley; his stepson, Matthew Eugene Buresch; and his first wife, Rosemary Rife Talley. He is survived by his wife, Joan Buresch Talley; a brother, Thomas Evans Talley M.D.; his children: Peter Evans, Mark Randall, Emily Margaret, who is keeping up the medical tradition by being a Physician's Assistant; and step-daughter Alexandra Buresch; grandchildren: Santana, Joshua, Maria, Jennifer, Zachary, Ursula, Jack and great grandchildren: Angelina, Jeremiah, Gabriel and Aiden; step-daughter Lyubomira Buresch, and grandchildren Jasmina and Eugene. There will be a gathering in honor of John's life at 5:15 p.m. this Friday, December 21st at the Center for Spiritual Living, 505 Camino de los Marquez, Santa Fe, 87505