Reflecting on Meaningful Values: Zoo's 'Urban Oasis' Helps Instill Life Lessons

In her first Seattle apartment, coincidentally across the street from Woodland Park Zoo, Maureen Harley awoke each day to the sounds of wildlife, peppered with an occasional lion's roar.

In their 46-year marriage, she and her husband, John, have shared, among many things, a great love of animals. They were zoo members even before the birth of their two daughters. Together they have traveled to six of the seven continents, "always to see animals." Peru and the Galapagos Islands are their most recent destinations, where they marveled at the Incas' harmony with nature and remarkable wildlife.

Since Maureen's early mornings across the street, their family has grown along with the zoo. She and John now share it with their daughters (one of whom was married in the Rose Garden in 2008), their sons-in-law and three grandchildren.

"The zoo has completely transformed," Maureen says. "It's nothing like the old days, with the bear pit and the monkey house. It used to be a typical, sterile zoo, with trees painted on concrete walls!"

From their vantage point as 40-plus-year members, she and John have witnessed with increasing pride how philanthropy has supported the zoo's evolution into an "urban oasis"—one they now enjoy frequently on early morning visits.

Yet it is also a deeper connection than with the animals and peaceful, natural encounters that moved Maureen and John to make a bequest to Woodland Park Zoo. The zoo helped shape their children's values.

"The zoo taught our children to respect animals and their environment," Maureen says. "It is important for children to grow up to appreciate the interconnectedness of all things of the natural world—whether that be animals, the environment or fellow human beings. And now the zoo is doing the same with our grandchildren."

They also see the broader reach of their legacy. "In the big picture, the zoo's education mission is very important," says John. "The wild is being encroached upon from every side, and unless people are educated about the value of wilderness, it won't last."

Together with their shared values and ideological approach to philanthropy, Maureen and John appreciate the realistic impact of their giving.

"The zoo can't support itself on daily admissions, and we want it to remain accessible," Maureen says. "If we, and others who have the opportunity, don't support the zoo, then it may be smaller, not as nice or fall short in its mission. It is satisfying to be able to include the zoo in our will... to leave something to a place that has been a big part of our lives."

"We tried to identify the things that have given us pleasure, that we feel are of value and wish to see thrive and survive," John says.

Their philanthropy will indeed help ensure the zoo goes forward, thrives and survives—for their grandchildren and for all of ours. Just imagine what we could do, for our zoo and for all wild animals and places, if more of us joined with Maureen and John.