And about 3:00 in the morning, the storm came in, the wind blew. The trailer started rocking. Rattlesnakes started rattling. Marilyn sat up said, “You got those damn snakes under the bed. Get rid of ’em.” So I had to take ’em out, took ’em to the shower house which… Read More
That you were married. That we got married. I got drafted. I got my draft notice. We were married just about three weeks when I got shipped off to Fort Bliss, Texas. Read More
What did you serve?… Read More
You were serving for how long?… Read More
So how would you say she impacted you in your career path?… Read More
She tolerated you?… Read More
She barely tolerated me. In fact, she always thought I would outgrow it. She thought I would grow up and calm down, settle down a little bit and be like other normal people, I think. I was always interested in going steady with her, but she never wanted to go… Read More
You talked about your beginning schooling in the St. Louis area. Read More
Did you go on to college?… Read More
I went to Harris Teachers College and I took every biology class. There’s only limited courses available to freshmen and sophomores, but I managed to get study halls in advanced biology courses. So I sat in vertebrate biology. It was study hall and I wasn’t supposed to participate in. But… Read More
Get back in the back of the room where you’re supposed to be studying.” But I had a chance to learn a lot. So in the beginning, Marilyn was in the same school you were at. Marilyn’s at the same school, but she didn’t take as many biology courses that… Read More
What lessons that have stood you good stead?… Read More
Well he was a very, very proud person. He walked with dignity. He was very strict. I had a very strict. As a father, I had to follow all the rules. I guess he was very disciplined. And I think I learned a certain amount of self-discipline from him to… Read More
Were there other animals you were drawn to?… Read More
Well my dad tried to get me interested in natural history and he bought Hardy’s Encyclopedia of Animal History. So I was reading about gorillas and mammals and birds and little bit of everything else, so I had some bird books. He was tryin’ to spread my interest away from… Read More
What did he impart to you?… Read More
Moody Lentz was the general curator then. And Moody would like to have particularly the toads because they needed them to feed the hog-nosed snakes and he would gimme a little behind-the-scenes tour. 15-minute, 20-minute behind-the-scenes tour of the reptile house, so I got to know Moody even as a… Read More
How old were you this time?… Read More
I was probably around 10. 10, 11 years old, still in grade school. That’s your first recollection, you liked the snakes. Read More
Well I think I got specifically interested in snakes because everybody was so afraid of ’em and I became so familiar with the superstitions and that most of the facts that people thought were facts were based on misinformation. So I started out tryin’ to improve the reputation of snakes. Read More