mayor al

Gate #2, The Employee's Entrance.

Yes it is Ron Brown. Al Bowen

Harry, I can help with three out of four... from the far right...

Unidentified Rider, Alan Cartwright (Big Guy), Ron Brown, Ginger Brown.

The Cartwright Family brought in the horses, and cattle used in the shows. The Father ran the barn activity for the Park.. He had a big handlebar Moustashe and drove the stage coach in the western show. Alan was 'a close friend' of Lisa Bauer the Sway Pole Performer. He worked hard at the 'good old boy' image playing 'Dukes of Hazard' games with Security often when he could.

Alan Cartwright in the middle, Ginger Brown on the right in the photo and Ron Brown on the far left.

Bamberlyn if you see this I am having trouble getting a message to you. please contact me via email at Bowenaj@aol.com I knew Ron and Ginger well back in those Great Adventure Days.

Although there is no date on the opening page of this Press release, It comes out of the original Corporate Office, not from the Park itself, and on First year Letterhead, thus it had to be a 1974 issue. I wish we had an image magnifier on these pages to make them easier to read.

al

Kevin,

Put youself in my shoes. That's the way he looked the last time I saw him in 1978... When I spoke with "Feet" on the phone a week or two ago at the 40th reunion--I couldn't attend-- He sounded the same to me...but 40 years can bring about some changes man... I probably could have walked into that reunion room and had trouble with more than half the names of folks I worked with day and night for over four years. Al

Officer Sheldon Lightfoot. This photo was taken prior to 6 Flags take over of Great Adventure. Notice the Patch on Lightfoot's uniform.. that dates it as 75-76

Baboons often escaped their enclosure and would 'raid' the maintence and fire dept bldgs and even get into the stable area causing a great deal of 'panic' by the horses there.

As funny as it sounds to 'outsiders' The arena staff were quite serious when they warned everyone in the area to be alert, as the Baboons could be quite dangerous if the chose to be agressive. The escapees were returned to their proper area shortly after that incident, but breakouts have happened now and then over the years.

School Buses made great playgrounds for the Baboons as they had lots of places to get a 'handhold' or place to sit. Really agressive Baboons would try to force entry to bus doors and often had to be chased off the vehicles by Safari wardens.

From a Security viewpoint, the Baboons caused a lot of work for us each day. Vinyl top damage reports were a daily occurrence with some weekends having 25-or more Baboon damage incidents on a shift. The 'Boons learns quickly that cars collected bugs under the chrome molding on the windshield, so the Baboons would peel the chrome strps off and gouge out the old dead bugs that had collected under that 'ledge. Breaking off antenna a beating other Baboons with the pieces was another game they played.

The Kiddie Ride section near the original entrance gates was a place many families with small children spent a lot of time. My kids went from ride to ride there knowing they could ride as often as they wished. Here Jeremy does another round of the boat ride.

My son Jeremy -age 4 when the Park opened- was quite pleased to take home a large (for him) Sombrero from the HAT'S Stand on this visit to G A

Ron Brown, in his Mongol Horde" costume worksout with two of his horses in the Arena preparing for the Shows that afternoon.

Ron and Ginger Brown were Rodeo Trick Riders who brought their act into the Arena show. They worked 2 or 3 seasons doing the Wild West and "Mongol Horde" segments of the Arena show several times a day. Here they are rehearsing the Roman Riding.

This photo-SCAN 176D- was posted recently, but was too dark to recognize the individual. I edited it only to find that I don't know the Officer in the photo. Will one of you more recent Security folks name this gentleman, please.

Another shot of Bill Dudley

After my time but I know some of these guys...

We can get an approximate date for the photo by puttining it durin DAVE PAULSON'S Term as the PRESIDENT OF 6FGA (On the Left as you look at it).

In the center is Bill Dudley a retired Army Vet who served in Security for several years then became the Warehouse Supervisor/Manager. Bill was originally from Panama and took a lot of kidding about his "Ricky Ricardo" accent.

On the Right is Bob Hurley who has been in a Director's job in the Park longer than anyone else that I know of. Mr Hurley watched over Security and Safety at times during his tenure with GA. He recently attended the 40th reunion session.

Funny how even in a short time I could use a first name with many of the Directors when we were in one-on-one conversations, but never with Bob Hurley. He was "Mr Hurley", and not because he insisted on it, It just came naturally. Must have been his Army Background carrying over, but he did receive respect from everyone I ever saw him deal with.

This Security shirt is being donated to the Museum as part of the "Pre-6 Flags Era.", It has earned it's place in History !

Sorry about the crack in this mug. Somehow it disappeared from a box on Ed Gadberry's desk and the next thing I knew I saw it in the museum's collection here. I am glad it survived ! and I am sure Ed is pleased to know it finally turned up !

Heavy winter jacket with removeable liner Blue for Fire Department and Brown for Security Officers. Somehow I managed to obtain one of each.

She is looking at that as if she has never seen Corn on the Cob before !!

Someone above my paygrade had "a vision" of a Disney-Like Riverboat ride cruising along beside Rt 537 from a dock at the Best of the West... Needless to say, the alligators got that fellow one night after the Christmas Party.

I can't give you a year, but I believe

that's Mike Cheung at the Security Radio Desk.

BTW- this is not one of my photos - al

John had the ideal schedule back in those years. He worked at Great Adventure in various functions over the years then when the Park closed for the Season he headed West to work at one of the Ski Rersorts, usually in Park City, Utah. When I worked at a College near Louisville,KY in the 1980's He would stop in on his way East or West for a break on his roadtrip to his next seasonal employment stop,

This particular car had been in the GA Shop for body work after a Parking Lot collision, I was sent up to the shop to pick it up when they finished fixing it. On my way back to the Security office, I was in the main line of the parking lanes leading to Admin and Gate 2, when out of one of the Parking rows an unlicensed cab came out with no attempt to stop or slow down and T-Boned the Security Car on the Passenger side---where the paint from the previous accident was still drying. I was shook up a bit but not really hurt. The Director was really Pissed... I had a lot of explaining to do... but it was entirely the idiot guests fault. I was in the middle lane of the 5 lane crossover and he made no effort to miss hitting me at all, no license, no Insurance.. I worked the office dispatch radio the rest of that night.