Almost exactly 58 years ago, Edward “Ted” McToldridge was introduced to the Child Estate Foundation’s Board of Directors as the new Zoo Director. Just months prior, he held the title of Child’s Estate Superintendent. This new title was more than just a change in wording as the ensuing 33 years would reveal. Until his retirement in December 1997, McToldridge led the fledgling zoo through its earliest struggles as it rose to become one of the community’s most beloved institutions.
Ted McToldridge was born in London, England, in 1930. In his twenties, McToldridge headed to Toronto, and then even farther south, landing in California. As an amateur race car driver, he traveled to wherever the competition would take him. It was the late ’50s when he found himself competing in a race at the Santa Barbara Airport. While enjoying breakfast on Cabrillo Boulevard, admiring the iconic line of palm trees, McToldridge decided that this was home.
He was running his own industrial design business when the Jaycees accepted the challenge to build a park at the former Child Estate. Lillian Child had left her estate to the Santa Barbara Foundation with the intent that it would be turned into a park for children. Not in the business of building and managing parks, the Foundation turned the property over to the City of Santa Barbara. The Department of Parks & Recreation had few resources to commit to creating this new park and turned to volunteers, championed by the Jaycees, to build the park.