Upon arriving at Charlie Hoessle’s Friendship Village apartment, the first thing that catches the eye is the impressive collection of artifacts from across the world — Pueblo pottery, carved animal figurines, kachina dolls, ostrich eggs, dreamcatchers and even a fiberglass duplicate of a bronze image featuring himself amongst three others holding a large snake.
To those from the area, this is not shocking; Hoessle has long been known in the city for his legacy at the St. Louis Zoo, having worked his way up from reptile keeper to director over the course of 40 years before retiring in 2000. Hoessle’s interest in animals, however, began much earlier, at a very young age.
“My mother told me when I was old enough to crawl, she had a rock garden, and I’d lift the rocks and I’d say, ‘Mama, bug, Mama, bug.’ I was, like, three years old,” he said. “So then I kept turning over rocks and got fascinated by snakes. I went to the library and read everything I could on snakes. My parents tried to discourage me, but that didn’t make much difference.”
Hoessle grew up in south St. Louis city, attending Cleveland High School in the city’s Dutchtown neighborhood. Following graduation, he enrolled in Harris Teachers College — now known as Harris-Stowe State University — with the hopes of later attending a four year university.
“There were no junior colleges, no reasonable schools. There was St. Louis University and Washington University, which I couldn’t afford, so I went to Harris Teacher’s College,” Hoessle said. “The only public college was University of Missouri-Columbia, and we couldn’t afford the room and board. Now there’s community colleges and more accessible colleges.”
Instead of continuing his schooling post-graduation from Harris Teacher’s College, Hoessle was drafted into the U.S. Army. Upon his return, he decided to open a pet shop in Affton, selling tropical fish and birds, and, of course, snakes. Hoessle’s quest for learning, however, never ceased — luckily, area zoology students were interested in the pets he sold.
“They took herpetology, ornithology, mammalogy. I would trade tropical fish and aquariums for those books, and I read them cover to cover. I was getting my college education on my own, educating myself. I read every textbook cover to cover. I knew every mammal, every bird, every reptile by their name — common and scientific. I didn’t do it on purpose, I’m just so interested in it,” he said.
Through this, Hoessle became a fixture of knowledge for all things reptile, sharing his expertise with the community.
“I gave talks to Boy Scout troops, Girl Scout troops, PTA meetings — anybody who would listen, because I was trying to raise the social status of snakes. Instead they raised mine,” Hoessle said.
One particular talk to a group of women in Oak Knoll Park changed Hoessle’s life forever.
“It was a humorous talk, because they all hate snakes. I said, ‘Snakes, they are very superstitious, because when they see people, people throw rocks at them, they hit them with sticks, and it scares the snakes. They crawl down in their burrow, and they dream, have nightmares about people. They think people are slimy, because they really don’t know people aren’t slimy,’” Hoessle said.
When he finished speaking, he offered the women an opportunity to pet a boa constrictor. To Hoessle’s surprise, every single attendee did — including Carol Perkins, the wife of then zoo director Marlin Perkins, who was so impressed with Hoessle’s presentation that she implored her husband to hire him.
“He offered me a job. Now here I am with three kids and a pet shop, working every day, no vacation, no holidays, no medical insurance or anything. Marlin Perkins offered me a paid job, two weeks vacation, medical expenses — everything that I needed with three kids. I was just scraping by, so I jumped at the chance,” Hoessle said.
When he first started at the zoo, Hoessle worked as a reptile keeper. As his passion for educating others never faltered, he continued teaching school children who came in about the animals they were seeing, allowing them to touch snakes, alligators and bullfrogs for a hands-on learning experience. This led Perkins to approach Hoessle with a proposition.
“He said, ‘You know, we can’t call you reptile keeper — we’re gonna have to call you education coordinator, but we don’t have any money for the budget to give you a raise. Maybe next year.’ I was just tickled to death. I didn’t care what they paid me. I just had fun with what I was doing. I like kids, I like animals, I like people,” Hoessle said.
From there, on top of his reptile and education roles, Hoessle became assistant curator, then general curator, then deputy director, before securing the director position in 1982.
Having worked at the zoo for nearly four decades, a lot changed throughout Hoessle’s time. It became realized on a larger scale that many species were becoming endangered, and animal shows — what many zoos were known for — started becoming outdated.
“The keeper had a whip. This was a different attitude for how we handle animals. We (now) handle them more with love and affection,” Hoessle said. “We went from animal shows to natural habitats. We had a lot of cages … concrete cubicles with iron bars … We wanted to give the animals natural habitats and keep them in family groups and breed them, particularly with emphasis on breeding endangered species.”
While Hoessle was a driving force behind these changes, he emphasized that he had a lot of help from his colleagues, who “were like family.”
In regards to his favorite zoo memories, Hoessle said: “The smiling faces of people, you never see unhappy people at the zoo, and being part of something that people love. My whole life is nothing but pleasant memories. I have a great family. I had a great career. I have lots of friends, a wonderful family. I mean, I couldn’t ask for anything more. I’m blessed. I’m proud of my kids. They’re all achievers, and they’re all good people, helping others all the time.”
Now, Hoessle has one more accomplishment to add to his long list: turning 95. Though his birthday is March 20, the Sunset Hills resident celebrated early with friends and family. He was particularly thrilled with the “elegant meal” consisting of tenderloin and shrimp served by Friendship Village — a home that has become a community for Hoessle in the past few months since he moved there. This has been especially comforting as Hoessle lost his beloved wife, Marilyn, in July. The two were married for 73 years, though Hoessle says it is more like 80, as he “courted her for seven years.”
As for advice to young professionals, and to people in general, Hoessle shared: “Read everything you can get. Do what you love, love what you do. You’ll be unhappy if you do something you don’t like; you’ll have a grudge your whole life. And try to be the best you can at that.”
