A Man and His Animals

Once upon a time…

How many of us read many, many fairy tales beginning with those four words? This, however, is not a fairy tale. This is, indeed, the story of a man who surrounded himself with animals and left a legacy of awe, joy, and understanding. This is the story of Larry Battson.

There was a man…

“Jungle Larry’s coming today!”  Those words were sure to incite lots of smiles and excitement because my students knew there wasn’t a better assembly than when Jungle Larry came to school.  And, nothing made the kids happier than when Larry brought one of the animals into the bleachers for an up-close look!  In my first years teaching at Roanoke, Larry had a sidekick whose name escapes me.  I almost think it was Bob.  Bob didn’t speak.  His job was straight man to Larry’s brand of very dry humor.  In a few years, though, Bob was replaced by Cher, Larry’s wife.  She never spoke during the assemblies, either.  But, her facial expressions spoke volumes! 

Larry and his wife, Cher, run Wildlife Educational Services from their home in Greencastle, IN.  He is known as Larry the Animal Guy on Facebook.  But, to hundreds, if not thousands of students from Roanoke Elementary, he was always Jungle Larry.  I have no idea the number of animals the two of them have raised, rescued, and loved over the years.  Larry always stressed to our students the animals he was bringing were not trained and didn’t have “acts.”  They were wild animals that were just a bit less wild due to the circumstances which brought them to Larry and Cher. 

A fan favorite for many years was Dolly, a baboon.  When she died, Elizabeth, another baboon, joined the family.  While Larry said she wasn’t trained, they did have a bit of a schtick and left the kids in stitches!  Over the years, Larry brought a snow leopard, servals, various lizards, lemurs, toads, and many other animals not commonly seen in homes.  Some of these animals were sent to Larry when they were rescued from bad situations.  Some were injured.  Larry and Cher always made room for them or found another home.  I don’t know, exactly, how many animals the Battsons have, but I do know they include bears, alligators, and tigers.

Larry and Cher financed Wildlife Educational Services by traveling to schools around the state (maybe even out of state). You can read and see about their school assemblies here. In 2020, all that changed.  With the schools on lockdown, they were unable to provide those assemblies and receive the money they needed to maintain the care and feeding of the animals.  They began to provide online assemblies via Zoom to schools. 

Larry was also a talented artist and created many pieces of custom art work for people.  Many times, it was a rendition of a beloved animal that had passed.  The two began writing books.  Cher would do the writing, and Larry would provide the illustrations.  I am lucky enough to have an autographed copy of one of them.  During lockdown, Larry would regularly host a “Drawing with Larry” live on Facebook to interact with kids and adults.  It was amazing how, with just a few strokes of his marker, Larry could make a frog or a bear or a snake come to life.

Speaking of snakes, one of the animals Larry always brought was a python.  Each year, he would select students and a teacher or two to come down and be “trees” upon which the python would hang.  I am deathly afraid of snakes, and my students always knew it.  It may have been my last year teaching, or the year before, but I was selected to be one of the three people holding that snake.  The entire time, I kept thinking, “Marsha, you cannot throw up.  You cannot pass out.  You will traumatize the Kindergartners if you do that.  You cannot throw up.  You cannot pass out.”  I kept repeating that in my head.  You can see the terror on my face! 

Sometime in the last few years, Larry began experiencing problems.  Eventually, this led to a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease.  Once schools were open again, Larry and Cher took the gang back to the schools.  I don’t know how badly this affected him, but I know they didn’t do as many assemblies.  In time, they had to stop traveling because Larry just couldn’t do it anymore. 

On August 21^st, Cher let us know Larry had chosen Hospice care.

“The Animal Guy, always teaching, now He’s teaching, how to do important hard things, the way we’re supposed to, with strength, grace, kindness, and, respect for the natural World and life’s natural process…He has been My best friend, I will always respect His choices!…. Larry is choosing Hospice care now.”

On September 1^st, she posted this: 

“Larry Battson, Our Animal Guy, at 2:30 this morning, got the coolest set of wings the Heavens have…fly on, Natures Best Teacher, Thanky for showings Us what matters…”

And, so it goes…

Larry may not have made millions of dollars.  He may not have driven fancy cars or taken expensive vacations.  Instead, Larry made memories for so many students, teachers, and other adults as he shared his love and respect for all animals.  His legacy is that, somewhere, a person, student or staff member, remembers the time Jungle Larry came to school and exemplified that love and respect.  When I shared on Facebook about his passing, almost all of my students who are there, commented on how much they loved and remembered Jungle Larry. I doubt we had any other assemblies that left that kind of impression.

Wrap it up, Marsha!

When Leslie came up with this prompt, I honestly thought I’d write about my teaching legacy. But, the more I thought about it, the more I knew I really had no way to even begin to quantify that. It wasn’t until a few days after Larry’s passing that I thought to write about his legacy. You can read more about Larry here and here. So, can we talk? Have you ever met someone who, in their own quiet way, caused you to look at the world differently? Were there assemblies at school you can still remember? What is your legacy? Please leave me a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as quickly as possible.

Where you can find me:

Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style,  Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, The Grey Brunette, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, and Style Splash. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend with Emma every Thursday. I also host Final Fridays on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!

What others are saying…

Suzy tells us: “Suzy’s blog post explores her aspiration to leave a lasting legacy of creativity, inspiration, and empowerment, emphasizing the importance of igniting creativity within oneself and others.”

Penny says: “Penny felt rather at a loss when contemplating ‘Legacy’ as she had decided to leave this planet with the least fuss possible. And yet she has things to say about ‘Legacy’ which will become clearer when you read her post!  However, Penny is on holiday this week and will post her piece shortly, so no link today!”

From the Southern Hemisphere, Debbie writes: “Debbie embraces the quirkiness of life in her response to the question of her legacy, thanks to some helpful technologies.”

Also from the Southern Hemisphere, Sue ponders the question: “‘What will my legacy be?’ Legacy is one of those subjects she has never really taken time to ponder or confront.  As she delved to find her answer, she discovered she really does know who she is and embraces and celebrates her unique qualities.”

Leslie’s addition to our prompt: “On pondering this month’s prompt, Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After writes:  One of the most touching things I was told just after Mom died in 08.2022, was that my brother, sister, and I were her legacy.  My (former) sister-in-law Metra was the sweetheart who imparted those words to us. And they were such a comfort to me.  I felt like Mom had gifted us with so much in her 95 years and now it was up to us to carry on for her.  A big job!!”

Finally, we have Gail: “Kathleen Lovis was an ordinary woman who never owned a house or car. She didn’t go abroad until she was 81. Kathleen started working at 14. She was the grandmother of Gail from Is This Mutton, who treasures Kathleen’s legacy of a handwritten memoir and recipe book.”

And, now, it’s your turn!

If you’d like to link up your imagination posts, please pop over to Gail’s blog, Is This Mutton, for the link up!

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