In the early ’60s which would’ve been about ’64, Marlin called me up to his office and he said, “I want you to build up a slide. When you give your lectures, you should be able to have a slide collection to enhance your lectures. So I want you to… Read More
I wanted to start a docent program at St. Louis. With Marlin’s support, we started a little docent program and I trained, I personally trained the docents and Jerry and Bob Fru and Mike Fleig helped me with classes to make them knowledgeable, to help take some of the school… Read More
And education is probably one of the most biggest components of the zoo. We say in St. Louis there are four basic components of a zoo. Recreation is number one. People come to the zoo to have fun. Education, number two. You educate ’em. They don’t mind being educated. So… Read More
And conservation has to begin at the zoo. We have to have conservation programs. And fourth of all, we have to have research programs. Those are the four dimensions of the zoo: recreation, education, conservation and research. So we do research learning about medical aspects. That’s through the veterinarian department. Read More
When I started the education program at the zoo, it was kind of a hobby. But Marlin was very keen in developing education program that education was a strong component of the zoo. And there was a time when he and Carol were supposed to go to Colorado Springs for… Read More
“Let him find out how they’re doing it, what they’re doing it.” And so I got a chance to go to my first national meeting taking a train from St. Louis to Denver, Denver to Colorado Springs. We stayed at Broadmoor Hotel which was a very impressive hotel. I got… Read More
She had animals. She had a snake. She had a kitten of some sort. I don’t remember, maybe a fennec fox and a llama and she would go to the school. But then she would get out and she’d do a zoo presentation, but then she would give out applications… Read More
Okay, was that when you were director?… Read More
That was when I was zoo director. Education in zoo is based on your experience main element of the zoo. Read More
Why, not the main element?… Read More
I’m sorry?… Read More
Does that ring a bell, kids’ drawer?… Read More
No. That must’ve been Lincoln Park. In your opinion- I did have a drawer in my office where I always kept plush animals and little things. And every time anybody came to the zoo that had children with ’em, I’d open that door and let ’em pick somethin’ out of… Read More
Or were they- Some of ’em were personal pets I took to the zoo with me when I went and some of ’em were that I adopted from zoo animals. But also sometimes I used the baby animals like we had a baby jaguar that I could hold and let… Read More
Full-grown cheetah?… Read More
Oh yeah, full-grown cheetah. We had a full-grown cheetah who was quite gentle. This must’ve been one of the earlier encounters of that kind. It was a earlier hand-raised. It had been hand-raised that Marlin brought to the zoo for such purposes. Read More
What was the kids’ drawer?… Read More
What was the one that you were most proud of?… Read More
Well I would have to say the introduction to reptiles because they all got to hold the boa constrictor and squeal and scream. That was before cameras were really. You know, you didn’t have the cellphone you could take pictures with. So sometimes somebody would have a camera in the… Read More
These weren’t your personal pets, were they now?… Read More