Interview 17445 – Caption Index: 21
You made a statement once, you said “You can’t be a Noah’s Ark and have everything.” What did you mean by that?… Read More
You made a statement once, you said “You can’t be a Noah’s Ark and have everything.” What did you mean by that?… Read More
And that was kind of sad because I didn’t have the same kind of relationship I had with him that I had with Conway. Read More
That was quite an adjustment. Bill was a, he and I probably worked more closely together than, certainly more closely than I did with the man who followed him. Bill would listen to me, ’cause I was a dreamer I guess and I always had some crazy idea and he… Read More
How did the retirement of Bill Conway affect you in a professional manner?… Read More
And you pulled the sign out of the box and put the one in that you wanted to use at that time, “Animals on exhibit” or whatever. And that was something that might have prevented something like that. I also gave them bear spray. Every keeper that worked with wild… Read More
That is the most horrible, horrible thing that you can experience, is having someone killed like that young woman was. To this day, we don’t know what was in her head, what she was thinking or maybe she wasn’t thinking at all. But I said, “We can’t have this happen… Read More
with large carnivores, and what lessons did you learn?… Read More
What was the most difficult time at the zoo and can you discuss the keeper tiger, 1985. July 25th. Read More
I think that, well, one of the things that I really wanted to get to do was after seeing the insect house at Cincinnati Zoo, I said, “We can do that.” They did a wonderful job, but we’ll do it and we’ll put our own seal on it.” And I… Read More
During your time at the Bronx, what had you hoped to accomplish but you just couldn’t get it finished?… Read More
Went to Boston when the Walt Disney True-Life Adventures were playing, all by myself. Nobody that I knew wanted to go to those movies but I did. Well the majority of your career, was spent at the Bronx Zoo and we’re gonna talk about that but I wanted to ask… Read More
I had feathers from a gull that I had found that had been killed by something, and I had shed snakeskins, all kinds of things that I found and pupa from or for butterflies. That was something I also, my parents would let me get away with keeping just about… Read More
I wasn’t gonna be a farmer or a rancher, or anything like that. But I wanted to use that, I wanted to be around animals. I forgot to mention, I had whatever animals I could get away with at home. I had ducks and chickens in the backyard. I had… Read More
When I looked over the program, the only thing I saw that I even closely liked was History. So, I majored in History. One day in my freshman year, my theology professor and I were talking after class and he said, “Why are you majoring in History?” He said, “Do… Read More
I went to Boston College like they did. My mother and father graduated from high school and that was as far as they went. And my mother wanted me to learn a trade. My father wanted me to come and work with him. He had a good pension and good… Read More
It’s hard to say, but I remember going to the library with my mother when I was very young and I couldn’t yet write. I wanted to get a library card so I could take out whatever books I wanted and until I could write my name, I couldn’t take… Read More
When did you first think that you might like to work in a zoo?… Read More
My mother raised the six children. My father worked a lot. My father worked driving a streetcar in Boston. And during the summer and fall and spring, he painted houses on the side, on his days off and during the summer he worked nights driving the street car. Read More
What did your parents do?… Read More
I was the oldest of six children and probably had the best my parents could offer, seeing as I was the first one and they could spend more time with me when I was the only one, or, almost the only one, there weren’t many of us. But most nuumber… Read More