And as a people were released from the Navy duties based on their appoint system and the people that were unmarried with no dependence were the ones that were retained the longest. Married folks and particularly those with kids got out sooner. So somebody had to run the ship to… Read More
So I mustered through a human person-to-person contact developed kind of a base core group. We didn’t ever organize ourselves as a zoo society or zoo supporters or anything. We just set up, they were friends of friends, that we’d meet for dinner or picnics on the beach. And I… Read More
We wanna live in Hawaii. I wanna get out of the Navy in Hawaii. As I worked toward rebuilding, there was a zoo here in Hawaii many years ago, it’s essentially withered away even before the war. I’d like to have it, to help rebuild it and to be in… Read More
Always tell the truth, never promise them anything that you can’t deliver, and be friends and always keep your word.” And, okay. My biggest, probably biggest ally, Mark, biggest group of allies were the media people. That was, of course, pre-TV, TV came into Hawaii in the 50s, early 50s. Read More
Okay, the way it came about, when I first came to Hawaii in the Navy, I went around Diamond Head in a Navy troop ship or a Navy, going to be assigned as a landing craft officer on on a ship that carried both the troops and the landing craft. Read More
So when- Before you start, I wanna just get a couple of things here. You said Belle Benchley you had kind of a mentor, she was kind of a mentor to you. She was my most important mentor. Read More
What kind of things was she saying to you that in later years you remembered and helped you?… Read More
So I continued to at San Diego State, where same pattern, full-time student, full-time full time days off and summers as bus driver at the zoo, and then squeeze time for trips with Chuck Shaw. Chuck signed up in the Marine Corps, he was a born leader, he became sergeant… Read More
And it provided this opportunity that I, at the time, I had enough of, I think from my mother. My mom taught me to take advantage of your opportunities. And this day is only never gonna reoccur, this is it. And when our ship went to places for weeks at… Read More
Did you ever work at the San Diego Zoo as a full-time employee?… Read More
No, never. Because the war came very soon, and when that occurred, then there was a real exodus of employees. But they not only left to go to work at consolidated aircraft, they were drafted and they joined up. So I joined up with the Naval Reserve as a Navy… Read More
Again, weekends, it was full-time, but it was all day Saturdays and Sundays and holidays. And then I was still going to San Diego State the whole time, full-time student and full-time bus driver on the days off. Read More
And I remember specifically an event that I had did not come in at the end of the day, ’cause I was talking to, and I believe, teenage female passengers that were interested in chatting further after the last bus ride. So I was maybe 20 minutes behind schedule taking… Read More
When you were the bus driver, was that a full-time or part-time job?… Read More
And in those days, Mark, the zoo was so small and the duties were so concentrated that she and her secretary were at the zoo’s entrance, which was long been destroyed. A tiny little building near where the bus drivers, where the bus began to pick up on the tour. Read More
And of course, sea lions was the standard mammal thing. That they bought the sea lions from the Portuguese fishermen and developed those. But at any rate, very soon, the man that operated, there were two sight seeing buses in San Diego Zoo at the time. They were a long… Read More
So I got to know Ms. Benchley, who was in the… They called her executive secretary, but she essentially was later, she did the same duty, but she was named the director. Dr. Harry Wegeforth was still alive at that time, he died in the middle of the war. But… Read More
Just part-time weekends, school holidays. But even with those school holidays, I had a Model A Ford, that when I was a junior in high school, I’d worked as a firefighter to earn money, which was a frequent thing at where I’d gone to high school there and summer jobs. Read More
And that’s the way it is here. And I’ve never forgotten those, what simple, easy, clear cut, and truly valuable, meaningful. Find out what we do, why we do it, and then gimme your ideas. Read More
So you were hired as a part-time keeper or Full-time keeper?… Read More