Mr. McFetridge was a very well-known and well-regarded labor leader in Chicago. He is good friend of mayor Daley’s, and he was not a man that you’d keep waiting if he wanted to see you. So I didn’t know for sure why he wanted to see me, and got down there, and lo and behold, he sits me down and says, “You’re the new zoo director.” And I gulped and thought, Wow.” And then he said, “And we’re gonna have a news conference in 30 minutes.” And again, I thought gulp then, wow. And lo and behold, there I was in my working clothes and nothing fancy set up, I’m not even sure if I needed a hair cut. And my first introduction to Chicago media, all of a sudden there we were in the Soldier Field headquarters of the Park District, in Mr. McFetridge’s place, and the media came in, and he announced that I would be the new zoo director. And I think this was in spring of 1962, and he said that I would be taking over October 1st of that time, and that in the interim, Marlin would be there to kind of work with me and help me make the transition. And I proceeded to walk out of there sort of slightly dazed, I guess, by it all the way it evolved. And went home and told my family that we’re gonna be doing something different, leaving our lovely place in Riverside at some point.
