Yes, I was able to start going to national conferences after a couple years later, as the staff increased with the SEEDA work, it was a blessing to me and a downfall to me, but it allowed me to start going to national conferences and it became, certainly for years… Read More
With your newfound freedom so to speak, were you able to go to national conferences?… Read More
Mesker Park was a zoo. And the purpose of the zoo, at that point in time was for us to maintain a collection of animals for the people, the metropolitan people of the tri-state area to come and see and enjoy. Read More
And I think, to me, he was the first person zoo person ever had a computer to use and was using it for different reasons. Anyway, I’m drifting. I was very interested in the inventory and basically the history of the zoo, of the animal collection. Something that I felt… Read More
So you’re saying what did Dion give me, whether he had confidence me, whether they had respect in me, he left me to my own devices, I guess. I mean, there wasn’t a day that he had a small off, everybody. I had a bigger than him actually, but also… Read More
It’s difficult for me to remember a lot of specifics so many years ago, I mean, literally, it was over 35 years ago, probably closer to 40 at, yeah, probably about 35 years ago. In any event I got, I mean, one of the things that I enjoyed doing that… Read More
With that latitude, what did you start to try and implement at the zoo?… Read More
As I remember it, yes. I mean Dion was very low key. I don’t remember him really getting emphatic or yelling or, need this done tomorrow type thing. He was very easy to work with and accepted my input. And he also gave me more freedom with some of the… Read More
When Dion came in, did he lean on you to ask you your advice ’cause you obviously had been at the zoo and what you thought might be changed?… Read More
As we progressed, the old building that we had the chimps in and the other primates that we had at the zoo and the other cats, other than the lions, we eventually closed that building to the public, the exhibitry was horrible. It wound up, we changed it into a… Read More
I mean this, once again, seventies, Though Evansville changed. It had been a long time democratic city. And then in the seventies, there was a Republican, there was a change, Republicans came in and hadn’t been there in office for, I don’t know, 60 years, 70 years, some very long… Read More
Initially when Dion came in, he had his learning curve too. See what the facility was, see how the city was to work with. There was always a zoological society there that at that time, about the only thing they wound up doing is producing a newsletter quarterly for their… Read More
What were they focusing on all of a sudden?… Read More
Did he immediately start to make changes or discuss changes with you zoo change direction?… Read More
The new director comes into the zoo. Read More
But I certainly would call these people These are some of the few people that I feel I knew more than just colleagues, that I could sound off, blow off some hot air, just relieve myself. ‘Cause I didn’t have that. In Evansville, I didn’t even have, I mean, I… Read More
What would you do, what would you recommend?… Read More
You mentioned that you talked to one of the former directors, Frank Thompson, when you were heading the zoo, were there other people you reached out to, or were there people that reached out to you in a mentorship kind of role?… Read More
I talked to people at Lincoln Park on various occasions, sometimes just to, I don’t remember specific conversations in terms of, hey, I have this problem. Read More
I guess when he applied for the zoo, I mean, I started checking on me. I wasn’t the name in the business at that point in time. Not that I’m a name this at this point in time, but it was certainly so early in my career. I mean, whether… Read More