Namu (orca)

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Namu was one of the first orcas (killer whales) in an aquarium exhibit, and star of a subject titled semi-documentary that changed some people's attitudes toward orcas.

[edit] Memory of Namu

Emilie (Gamache) Leming, daughter of Ted Griffin's partner John (Mel) Gamache (1922-1999), remembers Namu very well:

"... my father, John (Mel) Gamache was Ted Griffin's partner in that venture. Ted owned 51 percent of the stock and my father the rest. My Dad had run his own company starting in the 1950s called Aquarium Maintenance, which was the first of its kind in the concept of setting up and maintaining aquariums in restaurants (the huge L-shaped salt water tank at the Wharf), in doctor's and dentist's offices, etc. Nowadays it's a very competitive industry. "I worked in the ticket booth at the Seattle Aquarium when Namu was there. It was between my Junior and Senior years of high school at Holy Names Academy. I remember distinctly the night Namu died ... driving home to Bellevue, going around the "bump" in the floating bridge in my VW with such tears in my eyes I could hardly drive. It was like losing a family member!

My father worked very hard in those days to support a family of seven children of which I was the eldest. I remember going to Ted Griffin's home on the island ... years later he would become a shell of the man he had been ... regretting the capture and death of Namu ... I believe it haunts him to this day, as it does myself. My father passed away recently but I just wanted it noted for the record, one of his many contributions to the history of Seattle."