Samson Serendipity

Out of the blue, I received an e-mail today from Judith, who is writing a story for Milwaukee Magazine about Samson the Gorilla.

You may recall an article I wrote about Samson for The Cheers some time back. If not, PLEASE go read it and learn about one of the few, truly great and happy days in my life. The day I met Samson will stand as one of the best experiences of my mostly mediocre existence.

Now, before I tell about Judith let me alert you to something odd at The Cheers. My article seems to be sans photos now. However, the captions for those photos seem to be intact and are actually IN the column, making the damn thing seems rather disjointed. So please disregard the lines, "Samson (courtesy gorilla-haven.org)", "At Least it Was Sugarless!", The Last Surviving Samson Orange", & "Andy Reunited With Samson" and everything will make perfect sense.

Anyway, Judith was able to provide me with the name of the animal handler who made the most memorable day of my life possible. So for now, when you read the column and wish there was a name instead of a phrase like, "the handler" just insert Sam LaMalfa into those sentences.

Mr. LaMalfa is now retired and is something of an artist. You can see a sketch he drew of Samson at Gorilla Haven.

Publicly, let me say,

THANK YOU MR. LaMALFA FOR MAKING ONE DAY IN MY LIFE SO REMARKABLE!

I am hopeful I can find some sort of contact info for the guy and write him a letter. I am also hopeful I'll get mentioned in the upcoming piece. Either way, I am extremely happy to have heard from Judith. Thanks, much!