When I was at Kansas City, I think the first zoo professional that I ever met at the time was Gary Clark ’cause Gary was an alumni of the Kansas City Zoo. And then there was a curator of birds at the National Zoo named Carrie Muller and Carrie really was wonderful. He took me under his arm and I would ask him questions, he’d have answers. He was very helpful, all I had to do was pick up the phone and call him and anything I wanted to know, he would tell me. He and I attended a Waterfowl Convention together and roomed together. And he probably got tired of me asking him all these questions about waterfowl and stuff but he was really very instrumental in terms of my early training in the field of aviculture and zoo ornithology at that time. And I did begin to learn the names of other people in institutions. Although I didn’t know them at that time, I became who they were and I didn’t hesitate to pick up the phone, I can remember talking to Joe Bell at the Bronx Zoo, he didn’t know me from anybody and was very helpful.
