So I left that fall in January. At the end of the semester, I had my degree a year in advance. And I went down and started at Theran Park Zoo as a reptile keeper. I think I got paid $6,700 a year. What year was that? That was in… Read More
And I went back to the university. And on my junior year, I, I talked to Dr. Hopp and I said, listen, they’re opening up positions, this thing’s going, I really want to go down there. I said, but I, I wanna finish. And so Dr. Hopp sat down with… Read More
And I started working for him as an undergrad. I actually took care of the institution’s live animal collection while I was there. And during this time, I, I just was able to spend a lot of time at school with a number of the different professors because of my… Read More
And he created these courses and I was able to get in to the first set of classes. But two years after I left and was at the university, Columbus made them stop teaching those classes because the school group, the Indiana School Board said it was unfair that kids… Read More
Well, Indiana High School, the Columbus High School Bulldogs was actually a very progressive school, and I have always been an outside kid. Got into biology, I loved all the science studies. And I met a young man who had graduated from Indiana State University. His name is Phil Allen. Read More
What type of schooling did you have?… Read More
I went to one zoo growing up that was the Indianapolis Zoo at the time, which has dramatically changed. That’s the only zoo I ever visited. So it, it were, there were a number of other people that influenced my interest in the profession. But no, I didn’t visit a… Read More
What zoos did you see growing up and what impressions did they have? Did you have The truth?… Read More
And of course at the time, that was something everyone did. So I grew up on a creek hunting, and you know, back then parents let you out of the house and out of their sight all day long. And it’s like they’d ring the bell and you should show… Read More
So I grew up with that desire to, to work with herpetology animals, snakes, turtles, that kind of stuff. Read More
First animal I remember was my mother’s Pomeranian, nastiest animal I’ve ever been around. Loved her. But that dog would chase me. But no, I’ve always been around it. And we grew up, Columbus was a small town at the time. There’s about 25,000 people in the town, but it… Read More
My father Frank, was vice president of Hamilton Cosco, and he was vice president of production. Hamilton Cosco was a manufacturing company that did office furniture, baby furniture, things like that. It was, it was a fairly well known company at the time. My mother was a housewife, although she… Read More
It’s Frank Williams, Ziegler, f William, or Bill, and I was born on September 16th, 1951 in Columbus, Indiana. Read More
Who were your parents? What did they do?… Read More
’cause I, I work with them, you know, I love rhinos. I, I’ve been known to go in with my rhinos sometimes, but I can’t do that now that I’m a ZA. So I don’t, but I know I could if I in an emergency, you know, something like that. Read More
Thank you Rick Ry. I’m tired. Read More
But, but I hope people realize that, you know, we made, i I made the decisions for the good of the organization, not for myself. I was unselfish in terms of, well, we’re all selfish, but I was less unselfish than most in terms of doing what was right for… Read More
I was too close with my animals, you know?… Read More
We talked about successes, but you learn way more from your mistakes. If you make big mistakes than you have several times, then you deserve to die. But, but, but if, but, but if you can. But if you, if, if, if you try something and it doesn’t work, I,… Read More
Don’t do it unless you can do it right and, you know, and, and, and spend the money you got. You gotta be able to spend the money. I always had, you know, even when I went to Houston from Disney, they said, you’re the Disney guy. We don’t have… Read More