And Cy, essentially, back to the war time and how that affected the zoo. It affected the zoo because a person that could be a keeper in the zoo could go two miles away, worked for consolidated aircraft, know nothing about building airplanes, but get to work on time, learn… Read More
My concern was my interest in reptiles and what a marvelous, marvelous opportunity, Mark, it was to work there. So Chuck got you in. Chuck got me into the zoo and Cy Perkins, I can remember to this day, the most important information he ever imparted, because he’d gone through… Read More
And so all of a sudden, here I am, 18 years old, working at the San Diego Zoo as an assistant reptile curator, not reptile curator, reptile keeper. Kind of back me up now. You’re in San Diego, you’ve started college. Yes, now what happened then- How did you, you… Read More
He lived there in San Diego, in the city, a guy named Chuck Shaw. Now Chuck Shaw was a year older than me, and Chuck later became the reptile curator at San Diego for many years. And then at his later years at San Diego Zoo, he became assistant director. Read More
And we did not realize that, of course, that we were going to war with Japan soon. However, in San Diego, my primary objective of selecting San Diego State College as the place to go to college was the presence of the San Diego Zoo. And what had happened, what… Read More
I did, and that goes back to in Georgia, before I left Georgia, they had a statement, a saying, thank God for Mississippi. And the reason for that, I suspect you might know, that in the then 48 states, Georgia was 47th and Mississippi was 48th and such standards as… Read More
And I finished high school there, grade school, high school in Ontario, California, Chaffey High, and San Diego State was only, and still is only 100 miles away. And San Diego Zoo existed, and was not only thriving, but a form of zoo in the west, in the ’30s as… Read More
Did you go to college?… Read More
And if I received a bite, I would not be sitting here today. And there was no backup system, who to call, no 911. And I was just very, very lucky. Read More
What kind of schooling did you have?… Read More
So I was essentially raised by my mom and her sister. And for summers, I can recall going to St. Simon’s Island down off the Southeastern, just north of the Florida line in Southern Georgia, at a little beach house with neighbors. And there was a boy my same age… Read More
When you were growing up, what is the first, obviously you had a love of animals, what is the first zoo that you can remember seeing?… Read More
I have a very vague recollection of Grants Park in Atlanta. And despite the fact that all of us who folks know in the ’20s, Grant Park would not pass AGA accreditation or any accreditation. I thought my recollection of it was wonderful, and I can remember Anne elephant, and… Read More
Were you a child who would bring animals home?… Read More
Yes. Some of the most fond memories and some of the earliest memories that I have of my childhood, is probably the single most prophetic thing, Mark, was two things, two activities simultaneously that at the age of perhaps 10, maybe nine, would be pursuits that I followed my entire… Read More
Only seven years. My mom grew up in a little town on the low country of South Carolina, north of Charleston, little town called Georgetown. And her father was the owner of a hardware store. I don’t know whether you’ve been to Georgetown or not, it’s near present day booming… Read More
And for a little kid walking barefooted when you’re 10 years old, you learnt quickly to toughen your feet. But at any rate, my mom then moved back when she left of the Coal North in Minnesota, moved down, there were no jobs at that time in Georgetown that she… Read More
How long were you in Minnesota?… Read More
Yeah, Paul Breeze, and I was born on October 16th, 1922, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And my dad was a bond salesman, and my mom was a college graduate, which very few women were in those days. And after being a school teacher for a time, my dad died when I… Read More
In the zoo profession, I guess I would like to be known for the new zoo, the Metro zoo, which I had a major hand in designing and implementing. So yeah, that would be my main thing. Read More