Mrs. Deborah Talkington, PhD, age 62, beloved wife of Mr. Michael Fallon, entered into rest Monday, December 05, 2016, at her residence.

Funeral service will be held 2 p.m. Saturday, December 17, 2016 in First United Methodist Church of Thomson with the Rev. Bob Williamson and Rev. John Barnes officiating. Burial will follow in Savannah Valley Memorial Gardens.

Deborah Talkington, PhD, retired from the Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch, Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Enteric Diseases, NCEZID, on October 31, 2015. She worked as a microbiologist for 39 years, 26 of those at CDC.

Deborah received a BS in Environmental Sciences and an MS in Medical Microbiology from the University of Georgia. She then pursued a PhD in Microbiology, and developed and evaluated serologic diagnostic tests and vaccines for use in the poultry industry. After graduation, she accepted an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship and later a Research Faculty position in Immunology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research at UAB focused on pathogenic mechanisms of proteins of atypical bacterial pathogens and pneumococcus.

In 1989, Deborah and her family moved to Atlanta where she began a career at CDC in the Streptococcus Reference Laboratory working on the pathogenesis and exotoxins of Streptococcus pyogenes ("flesh eating bacteria") and their role in toxic shock syndrome. In 1993, she was appointed chief of the CDC Mycoplasma Laboratory in a newly formed Atypical Respiratory Diseases Section with responsibility for outbreak investigations and evaluation of serologic and molecular-based detection techniques. Within the first month, this laboratory became heavily involved in the Hantavirus outbreak in the Four Corners region of the US, and Deborah recalls that this investigation illustrated the importance of CDC laboratory scientists and epidemiologists working together to solve unexplained illnesses.

In 2006, she moved to the Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Branch to lead laboratory studies on serologic testing for foodborne and waterborne outbreaks and surveillance studies of E. coli O157 and other diarrheagenic E. coli, Vibrio cholerae, Campylobacter, and Salmonella Typhi. After becoming team lead of the Enterics Laboratory Diagnostics and Outbreak Team in 2008, she participated in and coordinated the laboratory response to numerous domestic and international enteric outbreaks including the 2010 outbreak of cholera in Haiti.

In early 2011, she and DFWED epidemiologists traveled to Haiti to set up a new serologic survey for cholera in the Artibonite Department where the cholera outbreak originated. Deborah traveled internationally to train, lecture, and assess laboratory capacity for outbreaks and surveillance studies. She also established the capacity of EDLB to detect foodborne pathogens and enterotoxins of Clostridium perfringens, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus. Her work helped to expand laboratory diagnostics and lab capacity around the world and improved the lives of many individuals.

Over the years, Deborah mentored and trained numerous individuals, including ASM postdoctoral fellows, EID fellows, guest researchers, students, international fellows, and EIS officers who benefitted from her expertise, patience, and kindness.

When asked about her fondest memories at CDC, she recalled that working alongside and mentoring other scientists here at home and abroad has given her the greatest satisfaction, knowing that the end result would improve lives. She also expressed gratitude for the opportunities to help people that have come from working at CDC.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Paul and Mary Elizabeth Talkington; a brother, Gary Talkington. She is survived by her husband, Mr. Michael Fallon, Decatur; daughter, Kathy Fallon, Decatur.

Pallbearers will be Brian Fallon, Jimmy Talkington, Doug Whitaker, Wes Whitaker, Tom Knuth, and Jonathan Talkington. Honorary Pallbearer will be Mr. James Talkington.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti (https://hashaiti.org/donate/) or to her church, First Baptist Church Decatur (https://secure-q.net/Donations/FBCDecatur/448).

Friends may call at the funeral home. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the First United Methodist Church of Thomson.

You may sign the online guest book at www.curtisfuneralhome.com

Curtis Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.~~ The Augusta Chronicle--December 16, 2016