Saturday morning our dear friend DeWayne Akin passed away after his battle with cancer. He was the principal at Woodbrook Elementary in Carmel , Indiana. We have been visiting his school for over 25 years and his students and staff were always the best. We would always bring our animals the day before their spring break and all the kids and teachers would wear their best Hawaiian attire. I remember walking in to the school and it was so colorful and there was Mr. Akin drinking his coffee and sporting a beautiful Hawaiian shirt. And he would walk up and shake my hand and hand me a piece of paper with the date and time of next years show. He loved the animals and he understood why we do what we do and he thought that it was the best convocation they would have and it made us feel very good. One year we had our baboon Dolly and while she was doing her thing for the kids Mr. Akin walked up with a Hawaiian lei for Dolly to wear. I thought to myself that the baboon would rip the lei off and destroy it in front of all the students...but she did not she wore it proudly and I thought "Dolly has a lot of respect for this man and baboons that is not a easy thing to gain". We will miss Mr. Akin so much and we know that he is in a better place. R.I.P. Mr. A Cheryl and I love you very much.....
I was a student at Woodbrook Elementary in the late 80s/early 90s. I remember you visiting our school. It was always the best convocation and ALL the students looked forward to it and hoped they would get called up to hold the snake!! Also, my husband saw you as a patient yesterday and he brought home the book you gave us for our son. Thank you so much! And thank you for all the fun memories in elementary school. You have brightened many kids' lives!
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