Warren Thomas was one of the most interesting men I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. He had a photographic memory. He could read a chapter in a book and a week later someone would ask him something about it and he could quote what that book said about… Read More
And he didn’t care if there were proper procedures that maybe he should have gone through. If he saw a way to get the job done quicker, he did it. And sometime this got him into trouble with the various entities that he was employed by. So he taught me… Read More
Could you tell us a little bit about his working style and how well did you mesh with him?… Read More
We had a union there, but it was not a strong union. So it was a typical municipal zoo. We had to write purchase orders out to buy light bulbs and toilet paper for the restrooms and things like this. It was a lot of mundane paperwork involved with it. Read More
You mentioned that Dr. Warren Thomas was director of the zoo when you first arrived there. Read More
What were they both like, what you left and what you came to?… Read More
Columbus Zoo when I was there was totally different than it is today. It’s probably one of the models that we should use about municipal politically run zoo versus a zoological society operated private sector zoo. And then of course the Columbus Zoo has had a boon with Jack Hannah… Read More
So I guess that gives you what to answers your question about how did my wife like it there?… Read More
My children did well there in school. I still have one daughter that lives in the Rio Grande valley. My other daughter lives in Atlanta because she married a man from Atlanta after she was transferred there. She worked for Macy’s and they transferred her to Atlanta. She married a… Read More
Brownsville, Texas was to me an easy transition because I liked the Texas attitude and that’s pretty much, leave me alone, I’ll do my thing. You do your thing. And there wasn’t a lot of interference on things. At that time, I was married to my first wife for 18… Read More
So to me, moving from Ohio to Brownsville, Texas was not a problem at all. My wife after, we were divorced in 1979, immediately moved back to Ohio. Read More
How’d your wife feel?… Read More
I had a Foundation that was willing to provide financially for the major needs of the zoo. I had a very supportive board of directors and it was run by a zoological society, not by a city. So I didn’t have to put up with the city bureaucracy. And as… Read More
Was it difficult to move from the Midwest to Brownsville, Texas, which is certainly different from Midwest?… Read More
Well now, without mentioning names, does any memorable story come up to you?… Read More
It’s hard without mentioning names or without putting instances without people later on being able to figure out who it was. So, I would rather pass on that question. Okay. (chuckles) When you first went, you said you went to Brownsville as the associate director under Warren Thomas. Did you… Read More
And if they disagree, who takes precedence and things like this. And it usually came down to personalities. And in some instances you’d have a very experienced curator and a very inexperienced veterinarian or vice versa. And they each wanted, so to speak, insert their own influence on a situation. Read More
Who’s in charge when I go to treat an animal?… Read More
Is the curator in charge or is the veterinarian in charge?… Read More
Now you had mentioned that in joking that you didn’t have any conflict as a veterinarian with the mammal curator, but indeed there is conflict at times between veterinarians and curators or animal keepers having worked on the keeper end, so to speak as, when you started and being a… Read More