The People

In February of 2015, I posted a collection of photos of the Museum staff. There were seventy some photos.

This post is a follow-up to that with both familiar as well as a few new faces. But, not everyone on staff is included. Some folks don’t like to be photographed. And, you would have had to have made a trip to the outdoor exhibits to be seen by the lens of my camera. So, you may not see yourself in these photos, which again includes over 70 images.

Aside from the top image, the rest of the photos are in, somewhat, alphabetical order.

Above: That’s Lauren (Rentals/Events), Casey (Guest Relations) and Sarah (Rentals/Events) as they gaze upon, for the first time, our newly arrived red wolves in Explore the Wild.

Aaron (Animal Dept) doing clean-up in prep for arrival of new red wolves in November.
Summer Ranger Andrew (Guest Relations) poses in Explore the Wild.
Annie (Butterfly House) feeds crickets to assassin bugs as anxious school kids look on.
Betsy (Retail) getting ready for Santa Train.
James (Guest Relations) and Bobbi Jo (Butterfly House) discuss horticulture.
Bobbie Jo (Butterfly House) collecting figs in garden next to Sprout Cafe.
Brandon (left – Exhibits) and Wayne (Exhibits/Facilities) ready wolf enclosure for new arrivals.
Katie “Camp Katie” at the red wolf overlook during summer camp.
Wayne, veteran camp educator, about to impart a bit of sage wisdom on me.
Casey (Guest Relations) on a walk with Misha the red-tailed hawk.
Chase (left ) gets instruction from Dale (both Facilities).
Christian (Landscape) about to attack concrete with hammer drill.
Cliff (Facilities) smiles as he pauses to say hello while on his way to perform planned maintenance on the many fire extinguishers throughout the museum grounds and buildings.
Something has moved Corey (Guest Relations) to dance, perhaps the twenty school buses and loads of campers about to pull into the parking lot.
Summer Ranger Dal (Guest Relations) always smiling, and always ready to help, pauses during parking lot duty to pose for me (Can you see my reflection in the window?).
Dale (Facilities) hauls out lumber used for forms in wolf yard in prep for new arrivals.
Chris (right – Animal Dept) keeps an eye on the wolves as Daniel (Facilities) and Autumn (Animal Dept) discuss needed repair work in wolf yard.
Summer camp educator Deanna leads her campers to the Wetlands.
Debbie (Operations), Betsy (Retail), Maureen (Operations), and Sherry (Animal Dept) do safety walk ahead of opening of 2017 Santa Train.
Emily (External Relations/Dev) pulling wolf duty during summer following birth of red wolf pups.
Erecting a wobble tree in the Black Bear Exhibit are (l-r), David, John, and Jerry (all Exhibits). Food is placed in top of tree, bear shakes food out of tree.
Food Truck Summer Camp. Phoebe (camp Volunteer) exits the Chirba-Chirba Truck.
Melissa and Emma (Inov and Learning) watch Food Truck demonstration.
Always smiling and pleasant, Francesca (Guest Relations) living up to her rep.
One of the many faces of Gene (Facilities). See below.
One of the many faces of Gene (Facilities). See above.
During his days of working landscape, James (now Guest Relations) occasionally mucked around in the Wetlands.
His first ride on the Ellerbe Creek Express, Ian (Landscape) seems to be enjoying the ride.
You’re more likely to see Ian (landscape) working alongside the path here at the Museum.
Jennifer (Exhibits) deploying stanchions at the Ellerbe Creek Train Station.
Here, Jennifer (Exhibits) puts a final touch-up on the Ice Castle at the North Pole.
Jerry “J-Man” (Exhibits) always ready with a smile, and if your lucky, a joke or two.
Jessica (Guest Relations) doing wolf pup duty at the red wolf exhibit this past summer.
Jessica (Guest Relations) confirms, we have a happy crew here at the Museum.
Jill “Sunshine” (Animal Dept) caught in a rare moment between chores in Explore the Wild.
Jose (Landscape) working hard prepping the wolf yard for the new male and female Canis Rufus that arrived in November.
Jose (Landscape) taking a break from the grind during the heat of summer.
Kaitlynn and Dane (Guest Relations) hike down steps at the Butterfly House prior to the opening bell.
Kaitlynn (Guest Relations) enjoying her training days this past summer.
Maintaining the animal enclosures is an important part of being an Animal Keeper as exhibited here by Autumn (Animal Dept) cleaning and hosing down the water feature at the wolf exhibit.
KJ and Stacey (Exhibits) make fine adjustments to the interactive “Duck Feet” exhibit on the Main Wetlands Overlook.
(l-r) Jenna, Karyn, and Max (Inov and Learning) stop by the Red Wolf Overlook to get a peek at our new wolves.
Keeper Katie (Animal Dept) joins in with the daily chores in the wolf yard.
Before our red wolf family moved on to NY in November, they kindly posed for me just outside their enclosure. Actually, that’s Lauren and Casey dressed up for Halloween as our two adult wolves, pups in tow.
Lew (Butterfly House), feeling compelled to weed while passing through the garden in front of the Butterfly House.
Here, Lew has help from son Nolan. It’s in the DNA.
Decorating a Christmas tree is just one of many activities during the holiday season. Marc (Exhibits) strings lights on the Facilities tree.
One of five train drivers at the Museum, Mike happily engineers a packed train through the woods near the train tunnel.
Molly (Ext Rel) coolly strolls by on her way to work on Santa Train prep.
Brandon and Richard “lefty” (Exhibits) drive back from exhibit maintainance in Explore the Wild.
Richard “lefty” (Exhibits) wrangles sail boats at the end of the day.
Ever vigilante, Richard (Butterfly House) keeps an eye out for native butterflies in the garden in front of the Butterfly House.
Once a train driver, always a train driver. Ro (Ext Rel) “guest” engineers on a fine summer day.
Sherry (far right – Animal Dept) goes over bear safety with staff members (l-r) Ian, Emily, James, Christian, Brad, Jose, Maureen.
Safety first! The Safety Commitee meets at Black Bear Overlook (l-r) Krista, Lauren, Sherry, Francesca, Betsy (just above Francesca) Michael G., Sarah and Molly.
Volunteering at the Museum is fun and educational. Here, volunteer Sam expresses her excitement at the morning’s wildlife sightings.
Sam (Volunteer) photos one of the Museum’s wild creatures, a groundhog.
Sara (Guest Relations) on birthday party concierge duty.
Sarah (r) and Chris (Animal Dept) cruise by on their way to one of the animal exhibits. Looks like they have browse in the back of that Gator.
During our summer wolf pup days, Sarah took on wolf duty in Explore the Wild, expertly fielding questions posed by visitors to the exhibit. She volunteers at the wolves at least one day per week during the rest of the year.
You never know what’s going to come out of the woods here at the Museum. Sherry (Animal Dept), Casey (Guest Relations), and Lauren (Rentals) are examples. The trio were on a safety walk through the outdoor exhibits and graciously stopped to pose for me.
You just know that there’s important conversations going on with this group. (l-r, front to back) Kevin (IT), Christian (Landscape), Keith (Facilities), and John (Exhibits).
KJ and Brandon (Exhibits) install new doors on wolf dens before the arrival of red wolves.
Lots of work went on in the wolf yard between the departure of our previous wolf family and the arrival of the new male and female. (l-r) KJ, Dale, Wayne, Brandon, John, and Stacey descend on wolf yard to get it done.
Keeper Katie does the “poop scooping boogie” in the red wolf yard while Chris keeps tabs on the wolves.
Daniel “Tank” (Facilities/Exhibits) takes a pause in work to strike a pose.
Ranger and Train Driver, Terrence (Guest Relations) is shown here pulling parking lot duty.
Long time veteran train driver, Tom takes ‘ol 347 back to the tunnel at the end of the day.
“Wolf” Katie (Animal Dept) explains all there is to know about our red wolves to visitors at the red wolf overlook.

It all starts here…

Stephen (left) and Xavier greet visitors at the Admissions Desk.

And ends here.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo VER!

4 responses to The People

  1. Julie Rigby says:

    Greg these are so fabulous and made me smile over and over! Thank you so much!

    • gregdodge says:

      Thanks for the comments everyone. It was certainly fun putting the photos together. You should see some of the shots that didn’t make the cut! Thanks

  2. Shannon Kreps says:

    I love seeing everyone at the Museum – it’s such an amazing team to see in action, what great shots!

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