Not many, and I was the only female in the large mammal area. And most of older men, you know, treating me like their daughters or their granddaughters, I mean, they warned me, you know, you never, you know, you never scoop out something without checking to make sure that… Read More
Did you commiserate with the other women?… Read More
I mean, did you… Well, we all knew each other and we would hang, yeah, we would probably exchange stories of what happened to you today and, you know, whatever it was, again, it just was the nature of the beast. You know, it didn’t really phase you. It wasn’t… Read More
And when you started as an animal keeper, Miles had indicated to you that if you were a man, it’d be good, but how were you received in this position as a woman?… Read More
But you were one of few women who were working in the zoo, there weren’t many?… Read More
I didn’t, well, it was odd. I mean, I remember when I was first assigned to the hoofstock area with the sable antelope, I was working with a keeper who later left the zoo to become an Arizona State Trooper, but he informed me that I was gonna have difficulty,… Read More
And you were living at home?… Read More
Oh, you were married. Yeah. No. Now during your time, and we’ll kinda break it up, but during your time at the National Zoo, you’ve held more than just the title of animal keeper. Correct. Read More
Well, I worked at large mammals and then I became a keeper at the hospital. I worked with Mitch Bush up there. And then the Smithsonian decreed that there weren’t enough women in management, so I applied for a job in management and it was between me and another woman… Read More
And what were all your titles that you held and how did you progress upward in management?… Read More
Remember your first day on the job?… Read More
Yes, I do. We had to do something with a reindeer and Frosty the reindeer, she was a white reindeer. And the vet was there. Mitch Bush was the vet at the time. Mitch Bush and and Clint Gray. And Clint Gray came down and he was, you know, he… Read More
So did you have interaction?… Read More
Boy, I don’t know who was the deputy director at the time. Most of the names I can think of were not there when I started. Jaren Horsley was the general curator and he was the reptile guy. Read More
Who were you interacting with from the senior staff?… Read More
Obviously not the director. Not the director. No, I didn’t. I interacted with the animal supervisor. Sonny Stroman was the supervisor of the large mammal area. So I interacted with Sonny. Read More
And who was the director and the deputy?… Read More
He had just been promoted. I think he was, I don’t know whether he’s an assistant curator or a curator. He wasn’t the curator of the area. Larry Collins was the curator of the large mammal area when I was there. Bill, I don’t remember. I can’t remember their titles,… Read More
deputy director?… Read More
We had an area with kangaroos. We had delicate hoof, which had dorcas gazelles, dik-dik. And then we had muntjac. Then there there’s a large hill, the sable antelope. We had a number of reindeer, because the National Zoo provided reindeer for the Christmas pageant down on the mall, so… Read More