They’d walk through the zoo in the evening. And I highlighted all the exhibits and this was all black tie and very, very formal. We hired nationally known bands and things of that sort. And it still continues even today. Read More
When you first started, did the board give you any charges?… Read More
Like here’s what we would like you to do?… Read More
Can you imagine having 84 bosses?… Read More
But of that 84, 15 member executive committee that really operates the zoo with the staff, but they are very free and easy to get along with, always has been. They liked what I was proposing and what I was doing. And that continued, believe it or not for all… Read More
What was your relationship with the chairman?… Read More
And he said, “Well, you got it.” And that’s how we built the veterinary hospital. Read More
Well, I was gonna ask, where is the money coming from for these projects that you were developing?… Read More
It was coming from the community. The San Antonio Zoo is operated by a zoological society with a board of 84 people. Read More
I found that a great collection, especially birds. I found an excellent beginning of a collection of antelopes that just didn’t exist anywhere else in the country or the world really all because Fred Stark had gotten the idea that he could get antelopes and put them in San Antonio… Read More
He had sitatunga but who didn’t?… Read More
I think wasn’t a the, Brookfield had the big group of sitatunga one time nobody else had them. Well, that was one of them, but sitatunga didn’t do too well in the climate we had. But everything else that Fred had chosen were desert type animals and a pretty dry… Read More
So, I had years of work yet just facing me that it just sounded great and that’s where I began. I started to build these things. I built the commissary or what we call the nutrition center. And I was able then to blast freeze meat products, and had plenty… Read More
Would your family like to come?” And I said, “Who wouldn’t?” Because I finally, we got to take a look around town when I was down there visiting and we found San Antonio to be just an exciting city, big city but not like a big city and the river… Read More
And what type of zoo did you find?… Read More
Very unusual and difficult site in a rock quarry with a river running through the center. And I thought, my gosh, there’s not much land here, but what’s here has great potential. It also was almost barren. They under story, they have beautiful cypress trees and oak trees, rock walls… Read More
So they offer you the position of director, not superintendent, but director of the San Antonio’s Zoo, did you say yes?… Read More
They offered me the position of director of the San Antonio Zoo after meeting with the board, a very tough board, all ranchers and businessmen from San Antonio. Read More
And I thought, well, I don’t know how well I did, but they did offer it to me and they said, “Would you like to come to San Antonio?… Read More
You oughta have to give me a better hint than that. Read More