Watch out Shamu! Here comes Geno, the Orca Whale, sponsored in memory of beloved husband and father, Gene Tanselli. Geno swims around the carousel showing off in the middle row as if he is leaping from the water.
The Tanselli family vacationed at the Oregon Coast during the years when Keiko was a star at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. The Tanselli’s thought that an Orca whale should be a part of the Carousel, entertaining children and families like Keiko did.
All of the animals on Geno remind the Tanselli family of their trips to the Coast. A brown otter and Geno’s dorsal fin make the saddle area. Sea life, including an orange starfish, a sand dollar, an octopus, and a red crab can be found in a strand of seaweed clinging to Geno’s side.
Gene Tanselli loved baseball, in fact he was Oregon State’s baseball coach from 1966 to 1972, which is why the starfish is holding an OSU baseball.
A fish swims along side Geno. This ‘shiny fish’ is part of the Tanselli story too because of the book, “Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale” which was a favorite of the grandchildren. It tells how we can all be friends.
