In Memoriam 1992-1997/Daniel Defender

In Memoriam 1992-1997 Daniel Defender

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DANIEL DEFENDER

Daniel Defender was born on December 4, 1925, in Shields, North Dakota. A Sioux Indian, Dan grew up on the extensive lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation that straddles the borders of western North and South Dakota.

The ancestry of the Standing Rock Sioux derives from the Lakota band of

[Page 266]the Great Teton Sioux Nation, which until the mid-eighteenth century inhabited the forests of eastern Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin. Internecine warfare, the encroachment of white settlers, the introduction of the horse and the gun to their originally semi-agricultural culture, and their pursuit of the buffalo all became factors that eventually led the Lakota to move west into the Great Plains, especially the region spreading out from the foot of the Black Hills, long sacred to the Sioux, today comprising the Dakotas.

The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 established the boundaries of the Great Sioux Reservation. Under the treaty the Sioux were guaranteed that settlers would not intrude upon their land. When gold was discovered in the Black Hills, the federal government opened up the reservation for white settlement. In 1889 an Act of Congress subdivided the Great Sioux Reservation into five, and the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation was eventually reduced to about a quarter of its original treaty allocation.

Dan’s name in his native tongue, "Itancan-Agdi," translates roughly to "Brings Back Leadership," and to many on the reservation, that is what Dan stood for. An article published in the Bismarck Tribune following his passing noted that "he was a tireless fighter for justice on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation."

Still in his teens during World War II, Dan served in the US Navy as a "frogman"—an underwater demolition technician. As he told the story, not long after enlisting, the natural abilities of the frogmen hopefuls were put to their first test as they were dumped into a muddy lake in Idaho. "They pushed us out, and those who made it to shore made it," Dan explained. He credited his own success to his childhood days of swimming in the reservation's narrow and murky Porcupine Creek. During the Vietnam era Dan served in the US Merchant Marine.

By the time he encountered the Bahá’í Faith in the late 1960s, Dan had reached middle age, had traveled considerably, and had acquired a global perspective. He made the decision to become a Bahá’í during one of his returns to the Standing Rock Reservation, more specifically to Fort Yates, North Dakota. He formally enrolled as a Bahá’í on January 25, 1970.

His enthusiasm for his new Faith, his maturity, and his depth of experience in Indian affairs and as a member of the Fort Yates Spiritual Assembly quickly made him attractive for service at the national level. Appointments to the American Indian Teaching Committee in 1974 and 1975 followed.

In October 1981, after taking a bachelor's degree in social work, Dan volunteered for service in the United States Peace Corps. His assignment to San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, in the Philippines, provided him with an opportunity to combine government work with international pioneering service for the Faith. When he returned to the United States in 1984, a Filipino bride, Jacinta Nacawili del Rosario Defender, accompanied him. Their union brought them two children, Honorata and Quddus. They raised several foster children as well.

Jacqueline Left Hand Bull-Delahunt remembers them for having devoted their meager resources to the care of children with physical and intellectual disabilities. The Defender family established its new home in Fort Yates on the familiar rolling hills and outstretching grasslands of the Standing Rock Reservation. There they hosted Feasts, Holy Day commemorations,

163 Peter Salter, The Bismark Tribune, December 7, 1995, front page. [Page 267]and firesides; and Dan served on the Local Assembly. Jacinta recalls that they made great efforts to get their children to all possible winter schools and gatherings.

Dan died on December 3, 1995, at the age of sixty-nine and was widely mourned. In the Bismarck Tribune article cited above, his sister observed:

He went through the real pain our people went through. He saw what caused our pain, and he knew there'd be no way to change that unless he alleviated the pain. It wouldn't change by itself; it wouldn't change by applying Band-Aid measures on some deep-seated problems.

Dan's body was returned to a knoll on the land of his grandfather, Tall Man Sees the Bear, north of Shields, North Dakota. His sister, Mary Louise Defender Wilson, remembers that Dan had fasted on that hill a few years before.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States offered the Defender family its condolences:

Our hearts are saddened with the passing of Daniel Defender whose life was spent in service to humanity as a teacher of the Cause of God on the homefront and as a pioneer to the Philippines and as a loving father for physically challenged children whom he sheltered ... We pray for the ascent of his noble soul.

And on December 11, 1995, the International Teaching Centre remembered Dan and his family:

With saddened hearts, we received your email... informing us of the passing of a dearly devoted servant of the Cause Mr. Dan Defender on December 3, 1995. Please assure his wife and children that we will offer prayers at the Sacred Threshold for the progress of his soul and for Bahá’u’lláh’s blessings to comfort and sustain his family in this difficult time.

From an article submitted by Thomas Murphy and supplementary information provided by Jacinta Defender