So when you left Pensacola, there was no zoo, there was just this dream of a zoo. Yes. Dream of a zoo. You take this job in San Francisco and you move your whole family there. No, he goes out alone, his family stayed in Pensacola. So you are there… Read More
So you are part of this group of people who want to have this dream of a zoo in Pensacola, and you’re able to acquire a small amount of land. Not yet, not yet. At that point, they did not have any property. So you just have the zoo society. Read More
I had some friends out that were into birds, pheasants and pigeons and things like that. We would visit each other and we’d talk about what we could do maybe with this urge we had to raise our animals and things. And we communicated, but my friends, Jim, Dr. Potter,… Read More
How did it start?… Read More
How did that come to be?… Read More
Well, if I got on the horse, I was tough. But I never had to fight one, I never had to put my hands on one, for some reason it worked. I think that it worked not because of me, it worked because of the animals that they had to… Read More
Or did you have a different style?… Read More
Well, I wasn’t a big boss, I had bosses over me in the administration buildings, things like that. I was out there to train Corps men and teach them a little math and how to weigh food and how to make money with the food and sell it to the… Read More
And how would you describe yourself as?… Read More
So you were the big boss there, what style would you say you had when you were running this place?… Read More
Well, he was one of the kids in the Corps. And he was a boxer then and an athlete, and I was proud of him because he did very well. Because these kids in those days, these kids had little opportunity to do better. But I think some of the… Read More
How did that come about?… Read More
Yes. Read More
And just as quickly as an aside, did you know George Foreman from Camp Park?… Read More
Sure, yeah. Read More
Did that help frame that?… Read More
So in later years, were you able to use that philosophy when you had your own zoo, to build up rapport and understanding about the animals and the care of your staff?… Read More
Well, I think I tried to build a little pride in those guys, those kids. Then finally we were able to go into parades, the California parades with our horses and things like that. That built a lot of camaraderie and build a lot of professionalism with these children, with… Read More
What was one of the most unusual things that happened with your kids and you during that tenure when you were running the animal care and farms program?… Read More
Well, I’d take the kids to ranches and things like that. We’d castrate horses and cows and all that stuff. Then I’d take them to Oakland Zoo and meet the two directors there and things like that in Oakland. So if there was no animals, then I made sure there… Read More