| John Herriott, ringmaster, equestrian and animal trainer, was born into the world of the circus. His wife, Mary Ruth, was a circus convert.
John's father, Milton, was 16 when he ran away from home to become a circus dog boy. John's mother, Viola, came from a performing family. Her brother, a piano-playing vaudevillian, added an elephant to his Ole Olson Repertory Show and the show became a circus.
Growing up, young Johnnie spent summers with the circus. At 6, he was the back end of Jargo (half horse, half giraffe) and at 7, part of Clown Alley, in a costume made for him by his mother. By the time he was 12, he was in the ring with a performing elephant.
After the Koren war and a stint at the Minnesota School of Business, he returned to become a center ring star.
Mary Ruth James loved horses. High school summers were spent touring with the All Girl White Horse Troupe and the King Cristiani Circus as an equestrienne and an aerialist. Drawn to the warm, family atmosphere under the big top, she chose the ring over college and at 18 married into the circus. The Herriott's four daughters were raised with horses, llamas, zebras, camels, dogs and birds. On the road, on their ranch and in the ring, everyone cared for the animals, everyone performed, and everyday life was a circus.
Today, daughters and granddaughters and grandsons are in the ring, too, as aerialists, jugglers, animal trainers and ringmistress.
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