In 1985, the oil boom was over and oil had gone down to $14 a barrel or something like that and they were plugging wells. The biggest employer in the state was the company that handles all the bank, runs the core things for banks and stuff. And FDIC, they… Read More
And your wife?… Read More
And so, it was like we’re gonna do what but they went along with it. They realized and once they visited the place, they thought okay, this could be fun. And I went there in May but my family didn’t join me until about August, about July or August. About… Read More
And simply incorporated but nevertheless, that’s where we looked. It was about 13 miles from the zoo, taking me about 15 minutes. It was very close and so we did buy a home up in Edmond and moved in there in September and kids started school and did their entire,… Read More
What input are they giving you?… Read More
Well, at first, my family was and of course I had kids that were about ready to go into high school and I think my oldest was in junior high at the time, would that be correct?… Read More
Was it difficult to think about moving from the Midwest back or to a whole different type of culture?… Read More
Correct. You are in the Midwest where you wanted to be. Read More
What does your family think of it?… Read More
The Water Department is under a trust and it’s a method for turning public responsibility over to another management entity to manage. Although, of course the city municipality still keeps ownership, of course. And it’s a good system actually. Read More
So, they call you to come for this second interview with your wife?… Read More
I met with two or three different groups and answered questions. Now, the Oklahoma City Zoo is an interesting situation in that it is governed by what they call the Zoological Trust. And it’s made up of three individuals who are associated with the city. Six individuals who are associated… Read More
Oklahoma City had some history to it. There had been some issues. And I didn’t know whether I really wanted to be subject myself to that. You know how you can hear this stuff about all these institutes. Everybody’s got their issues. And so, I really didn’t give it a… Read More
And the more I looked at it, the more attractive it got and I’d been in St. Louis for 11 years. And I was at a point in my life and I was at an age in my life where you have to say, “Well okay, now what do you… Read More
Well, when the position opened up at Oklahoma City, I had first thought well, do I want to do that?… Read More
How did that all come about and how did you make that decision?… Read More
He’s the one that had the idea. Well, when you do these I-beams and get everything to fit and it worked out very, very well. All right. So, now you were deputy director curator at the St. Louis Zoo, obviously learning more. Read More
In 1985, your career takes a turn, how did you decide to now leave St. Louis and go for this executive director position?… Read More
We put it in there and within two years we started raising bateleurs and we did it every year. It was just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. So, we raised them and that was the first time they had ever been propagated in captivity. And as you know, they’re a… Read More
Bateleur eagles story, it actually was a very interesting one and it goes back to the Kansas City Zoo. When I was at Kansas City, we had white-tailed sea eagles and they had only been bred at one other place and that was the Vienna Zoo. Golly, I think in… Read More