The river that went along our property never had water in it. The six months I was out there. And my only fun was when friends would come to visit me and we went up into the mountains camping. So after six months I said, oh, I told, I, I… Read More
And I said it, I’m sorry, I’ve just not been happy out here and I wish you the best of luck. Read More
And he had several, he owned several equipment rental facilities and had other business interests. And we were one of them. But when we came to him and said, you know, our business plan is such and we’re probably not gonna realize a profit for five years, he kind of… Read More
And then I get this letter, I’m like, oh. And I finally, it was a tough decision. I said, you know what, I gotta try it. I gotta go for it. So five months at the aquarium, I, I tell ’em I’m leaving and I’m like, ah, I hope I’m… Read More
There was nobody my age give or take five years. And I remember I was so desperate to meet people. I went out to a couple of bars, one of which was in a Holiday Inn, the other was in a Chinese restaurant. So that speaks to desperation. That went… Read More
Gosh, probably wasn’t until my friend didn’t, from grad school say, Hey, there’s a job opening at Shedd aquarium. ’cause again, my interest was in working at a, an aquaculture facility. As a matter of fact, I had that opportunity. And this was a weird turn of events in grad… Read More
Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I got the job at Shedd, I’m there for about five months. Steve writes me this long letter, which I, I came upon last couple of years. I thought it was long gone. He said, Hey man, it’s happening. I got a spot out here… Read More
I worked at jackhammer settling, torch cutting. I mean we were doing everything to start this operation. And the bottom line is he’s, he’s offered me a position out there and he said, you know, come on out here. We’ll give you part ownership in the company. We’ll get you… Read More
He never came out. But it was just a big impressive animal. And I guess, you know, gorillas and, you know, most primates generally I found really interesting. Not so much hoofstock or, you know, rhinos are cool, hippos are cool. But yeah, my exposure is mostly to Zeus. Read More
And when did you first consider even the idea of working in an aquarium?… Read More
You’s mentioned a dog, but any, Yeah, you know, for some reason gorillas were always impressive to me. I mean, gosh, it had, I think his name was s Samson up at Milwaukee and just this austere exhibit space, I felt so bad. Tiled had a scale at one side. Read More
We went there, but really not a lot of involvement with going to aquariums and, you know, a little bit more to zoos. So. And Did you have, were you drawn to any animals?… Read More
And do you have any early memories of aquariums?… Read More
Not really. I’m trying to think. We did go to zoos occasionally. My, my greatest memory was Milwaukee Zoo and it was a big deal for me when I became old enough to take a bus down to the zoo in Milwaukee and our family would go there as well. Read More
When he retired from them, he ended up working for a smaller can company for a couple years. But then he left that and my mom was always the homemaker. I remember coming home from grade school at lunchtime about three blocks away, and mom would always have lunch ready… Read More
What did your parents do?… Read More
My dad worked, well first of all, he was in the National Guard during the war latter years. He got involved with working on planes out at O’Hare Airport before. It is what it is today. Used to have a military component out there and because he was one of… Read More
What was your childhood like?… Read More
Ah, great memories. I still relive my childhood, especially around Christmas time, but I don’t remember much from my first five years. ’cause you know, you’re kind of young, but I always consider Milwaukee my adopted hometown. ’cause I moved up there when I was five years old. I lived… Read More
It was just a a, a wonderful place to grow up. I I wouldn’t be above moving back there if my wife would agree to it, but it’s a nice easy place to go visit. Read More