I didn’t know a whole lot about zoo work, and the snow leopard was the most expensive animal in the zoo. At that time, it cost $3,500. More than an elephant. Three times as much as an elephant, as a matter of fact. So I packed up a little kit… Read More
Now was this your own practice or you were working for someone?… Read More
Well, it lasted a couple years until I graduated and then went down to Cincinnati to work in a small animal practice, doing the zoo work part-time. Read More
And then how long did this part-time job last?… Read More
Warren Thomas was the veterinarian?… Read More
No. He was a student. He was in my class, and he had worked there as a part-time keeper. So you’re both there as part-time keepers. Yeah. Okay. Read More
I also did little work in the reptile house, and some of the other parts of the zoo, but mainly the birdhouse. So you had a relationship with (indistinct). Read More
There was nobody there. So I walked all through the building and there was nobody in the building (chuckles). And I came back and I noticed there was an African gray parrot sitting on a perch right by the back door. And he apparently was the one that said that. Read More
And what did you do as a part-time keeper?… Read More
Well, (chuckles) the first day I came in, I was told to report at six o’clock in the morning and it was pitch dark. It was March, 1960. Let’s see, no 1957. And the head keep there, gave me the keys to the birdhouse and he said go over to… Read More
I think mainly through Warren Thomas, who was working there. Had worked there for several years. And I can’t recall exactly, I know I went out and applied for it. Talked to Earl Davis, the director of the zoo. And Earl was an interesting guy too. A politician, he was… Read More
And I rode around to different zoos and they all said, no (indistinct). The second year, well, I went off into practicing in smaller practice in Cincinnati, but I worked for the fellow who was the part-time veterinarian for the Cincinnati Zoo. And he was an alcoholic, and didn’t show… Read More
And so on the weekends, how’d you get this job as a part-time keeper at the Columbus Zoo?… Read More
No, not at all. And today I really don’t enjoy flying that much (chuckles). Now you indicated you had to write a paper and you interviewed veterinarian. That was the spark that you thought, wait a minute, this is something I’m interested in. That was the spark that got me… Read More
Did that peak your interest that you wanted to be a flyer?… Read More
So you were exposed to airplanes at a young age. Oh yeah, we used to go out and fly almost every weekend. Read More
My father was a commercial artist, a rather famous one. He painted aviation pictures. He was commissioned each year to go out to Cleveland National Air Races and take pictures of the planes that were qualifying and then paint a painting of the winner. And during that time we got… Read More
This one engine was on fire and so he couldn’t slow down. So he flew around the entire airport, probably about 10 feet off the runway trying to slow down. And finally belly landed right in front of us. And the airplane slid across the runway into a fence and… Read More
What’d your parents do?… Read More
Yeah, and bats too. I loved bats when I was a kid, and we knew an area where there was a big tunnel under the road that big brown bats used to hibernate in the winter time. So I would go down there and pull a couple off the wall… Read More