
Stewards of People
OGLEBAY GAVE SOME A START AND OTHERS A CAREER

ANDY BARGER
I did my senior project for WVU School of Landscape Architecture on the Good Zoo that was under construction at the time. I met with Brooks Wigginton, the landscape architect for the Wheeling Park Commission. He was so generous, sharing his plans, designs. We hit it off and he asked me if I would work with him on a couple of things, doing the legwork, taking measurements, suggesting plants–just some general assistance. That was in the late 1970s. I spent my entire career at the Wheeling Park Commission. In addition to Wigginton, I had the opportunity to work with Randy Worls (Oglebay Foundation Chairman Emeritus), Doug Dalby (former Wheeling Park Commission President and CEO), Chris Schenkel (Director of Horticulture) to name some.

BETTY MCKINLEY
I have worked at Oglebay for more than 32 years. I was hired as a part-time cashier in 1981 and was quickly made a full-time employee. I worked in accounts receivable and then as the front desk manager. I was promoted to the assistant director and then director of the call center. The first time I retired was in 2013. I came back as a part-time accounting clerk in 2016. I used to refer to Randy Worls as “Elvis“ and would alert the staff when “Elvis had entered or left the building.” When Betty Worls found out, she asked if I would refer to her as “Priscilla.”

CARRIE KAPPEL, PHD
Research Biologist
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California Santa Barbara
I have always been fascinated by the natural world. As soon as I was old enough, I became a docent at Oglebay’s Good Zoo, soaking up trainings on animal behavior, taxonomy, and care. It was there I met Penny Miller, the zoo’s first curator, who was always deeply engaged with the docent program. The year I was entering 8th grade, Penny offered a special field trip for docents to the Shoals Marine Laboratory on Appledore Island in the Gulf of Maine. It was an ambitious, (maybe crazy?), trip to make with a bunch of junior high and high schoolers, but Penny was intrepid and we were game. On that trip, I got my first exposure to scientific research vessels, night time plankton tows, snorkeling (cold in Maine!), the rocky intertidal, whales in the wild, and courses taught by college professors. I was hooked on all of it, and I set my sights on a career in marine science. These days I am a researcher and senior fellow at the National Center for Ecological Analysis & Synthesis at UC Santa Barbara, where I study the ways that people depend upon and interact with our coasts and oceans and work collaboratively to develop solutions that can help both people and nature thrive.