RE LOG Fall 2024

Cramp loved the science, but he didn’t love the solitude of the lab. A self-described extrovert with “the gift of the gab,” he balked at the prospect of going into academia and “counting snails or vertebrae” for hours. When an opportunity for a marine science teacher opened up at Palmer Trinity School, he took a chance on teaching – and Palmer took a chance on a 22-year-old with no teaching experience. “Within the first week, I was like, ‘This is fantastic,’” he said. “I just fell in love with teaching.” From Eagles to alligators to Hurricanes If you ask Cramp where he’s from, he’ll say “Philly,” insisting that he’s an Eagles fan to such a profound extent that he almost hesitated to take a job in the same state as the Dallas Cowboys. But the answer belies the fact that he’s actually from a lot of places. The only child of an operating room nurse (his mother) and a hospital administrator (his father), he spent his early years moving around constantly as his father was charged with revamping institutions all across North America, including hospitals at The Ohio State University and the University of Alberta. He speaks with pride about the care that both parents exhibited in their day-to-day professions. “My father is incredibly thoughtful, and loves to be – although it wasn’t the term at the time – a servant leader,” he said. “And then my mother was also caring for people. It’s just kind of how I grew up,” he said. He discovered his own professional calling – or at least one part of it – on a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium when he was 12 years old. Just south of the aquarium lay tide pools teeming with life among the rocks of the California coastline. Cramp was “mesmerized.” “You can see otters living in the kelp, and apparently, during certain times of the year, you can see humpback whales off in the distance,” he said. “I was like, ‘yeah, this is it. I’d love to study this.’” The fascination endured and pulled him to the University of Miami, where he majored in marine science and biology. At UM, he joined forces with a doctoral student who was researching the feeding habits of alligators in the Everglades – a project that required a significant amount of gator wrangling. “We would go out on a Thursday or Friday night to the Shark Valley entrance, get in an airboat, and catch gators,” Cramp explained. “Everything from little ones – we called them ‘hand grabbers’ – to big ones. I think the biggest one I ever caught was like 12 feet. When catching smaller ones, I would hang over the side or the front of the airboat, grab it with both hands around its neck, and then just put it between my legs and hold onto it while the doctoral student would tape its jaws shut. And then we’d do the research.” “I have never seen Don without a smile. He handles situations with grace and ease. Students always had respect for him even when they had to be disciplined.” – Monique Regis, front office support 2006 yearbook Lunch on the Pagoda porch, January 2024 22 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2024