Warren and Genevieve Garst
Biography by Rachael Tracey and Bridget Breitbach
In 1956, the lives of Warren and Genevieve (Genny) Garst were forever changed when Warren began filming "stock footage" of wildlife. After viewing Warren's footage, NBC producer Don Meier hired Warren for NBC's televised series Zoo Parade. A signed contract for the show was held between NBC and featuring star Marlin Perkins, then director of Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Warren acted as a photographer for the show and would soon receive his own contract. While they were filming in Columbia, NBC cancelled all Zoo Parade contracts. Don Meier decided to buy the Marlin Perkins contract, which later became known as Wild Kingdom. The new television series was first televised in 1962 and was sponsored by the insurance agency Mutual of Omaha. In 1963, the Garsts set off for a part-time assignment in Africa. What they thought was going to be six months of filming turned into twenty-five years of a worldwide expedition filming wildlife.
Warren Garst was born on September 21,
1922 in Douglas, Wyoming, where he spent most of his childhood. He
attended Cal Tech and later transferred to the University of
Colorado at Boulder to study mechanical engineering. His college
career was interrupted temporarily when he enlisted in the United
States Navy. After four years of service, Warren returned to the
University of Colorado and completed his degree in mechanical
engineering. Upon graduating, he punched new wells for Stanolind Oil
in Colorado and Wyoming. Subsequently, working at oilrigs lost its
challenge and Warren returned home to Douglas to free-lance write
with his mother, Doris "Shannon" Garst. After working all summer on
his writing, he traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to the Wildlife
Research Station in search for possible job opportunities
photographing animals. There he met the director of one of Disney's
wildlife episodes. This soon led to two years of filming "Vanishing
Prairie," part of Disney's True-Life Adventure series. For another
two years, he worked on "Perri," a Disney fantasy about the life of
squirrels. About that time, Warren met a woman named Genny Sherwin.
Genny Sherwin was born on September 6, 1922 in Padroni, Colorado
just north of Sterling. She was the youngest of seven children
living on a large cattle ranch, where she spent her childhood.
She attended and graduated from the
University of Wisconsin with degrees in mathematics and engineering.
During her senior year, she received a fellowship in aero
engineering from Pratt Whitney Aircraft, working as a flight test
engineer. After that, she held various positions including teaching
statistics, mathematics, and others. A job at North American
Aviation was of great influence because she was able to learn
computer programming, which proved to be useful in the years to
come. In 1955, Genny moved to Douglas, Wyoming to be with her
brother, whose wife was diagnosed and declining from cancer. From
there, she went to work at Martin Marietta in Denver as a computer
programmer (now called systems analyst). In 1958, she and Warren
were married.
After their honeymoon, the couple moved to Fort Collins, Colorado because Genny was offered a job at Colorado State University (CSU) teaching computer science. While filming wildlife and editing the first program for Wild Kingdom, Warren also worked on his masters in zoology at CSU. By the time he graduated, he had become a full-time wildlife photographer for Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. In 1963, Genny left her job at CSU to accompany Warren on a worldwide adventure filming wildlife. These worldwide travels yielded a collection of more than 19,500 slides, which were donated to CSU for an interactive Web site. This Web site allows users to access images and information about a large variety of animals, many of which are endangered or threatened.