Was being a little older than some of the staff any hindrance?
My age? No, I was peppier than most of the young people there. I had no limitations at all on my physical ability.
You felt pretty comfortable with a number of other staff members who taught at universities, like Don Farner?
Yes, Don was in charge of the naturalist program (4). This was awfully lucky of me. He realized that in old Jim Kezer he had a good companion. He was the type of individual who wanted to utilize all your abilities to help further the park program. It was Don who put me in various positions, like editing Nature Notes. Yes, it was my first contact with Don Farner. And he turned out to be one of my great friends.
Did you see much of Doc Ruhle that first summer?
Doc was there all the time, we saw him every day.
How many naturalists were there?
Oh, roughly ten, I’d say. There were maybe five Ph.Ds there that summer. This was back before there was a lot of research money available. The people connected with the universities were much more interested in coming to the park at that time than later on when they could get grants to do research in their field.
Other types of research money, like foundation grants, were difficult to obtain?
At that time, yes. Research money did not become readily available until about the time of Sputnik (5). One that happened it became very easily available. All you had to do is apply for it.
