The zoo did not have a full-time veterinarian. The zoo had a part-time veterinarian, Dr. Alfred Mohler, who I never saw, because he never came out to the zoo. It was interesting, the zoo had a contract with him, but he was never there the whole summer. They just didn’t… Read More
And he was there during the summer and he said, “Oh, we’ve got this program that we can get you on this grant for the summer.” And so that was my first introduction to zoos, and even thinking of zoos as a potential career. Read More
So Dr. Wallach interviewed you for the summer job?… Read More
And so I got more interested and applied. I didn’t have all the credits that I needed right away. But after I got my degree, and continued studying at the university, I eventually got into veterinary school. But even when I was in, I wasn’t looking at zoo medicine. I… Read More
So you just, you thought being a veterinarian would be, it just appealed to you, it was fun, or you could help?… Read More
I mean- and I liked working with them. I probably, I really got interested in farm animals more so when I was in veterinary school. And so I had previous, in high school and early part of college, I worked at Monsanto Chemical Company as a chemical operator during the… Read More
I always enjoyed the zoo, but it was not something that I thought of as a profession, I guess at that time. I always enjoyed animals. You know, I would collect turtles or various reptiles that we could catch at the park. Had a little squirrel for a while, whatever,… Read More
So when did you first start to think about working as a, not necessarily at the zoo, but working as a veterinarian and going to school to do that as opposed to becoming a priest or going to the seminary?… Read More
Well, once I left the seminary, when I decided I didn’t want to do that, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I went to the University of Missouri, and I moved around a little bit. I was interested in forestry, I was interested in conservation, I was… Read More
Well, we tried to see everything there was to see. There was not necessarily one that was more attractive to me than the others. At that time, the zoo had a three animal shows. We had a chimpanzee show, an elephant show, and a lion or big cat show. And… Read More
Do you think going to the zoo as you did, drew you to what you have spent your life doing?… Read More
Or how did that switch from being and wanting to go into the seminary, when did that take second to something else that you were thinking about?… Read More
I mean, you mentioned that you were gonna go to the seminary, but what are your earliest memories of zoos?… Read More
We always went to the zoo, St. Louis Zoo, at least twice a year. My parents didn’t even own a car. We would get on the bus and ride to the zoo. At that time, the zoo’s in Forest Park. We would get off the bus with our jug of… Read More
And were there any animals that you were drawn to that were favorites of yours, as you recollect, or just, it was an enjoyable day?… Read More
What did your parents do?… Read More
My father was a painter, he worked for Monsanto Chemical Company, painted buildings and pipes and so forth in the chemical plant, and my mother was a homemaker. And you mentioned the zoo. Read More
I’m Bill Boever, or William Joseph Boever, born in St. Louis, December 27th, 1944. Read More
And what was your childhood like growing up?… Read More
Well, I grew up in South St. Louis, was a middle class family, probably lower middle class, in terms of wealth or whatever. But very close community, very much involved in the church and school, Catholic community. There was, almost all the people on the block were Catholic. We lived,… Read More