When Anne’s daughter, Kate, was very young she loved monkeys. She would beg her mom and dad for a baby monkey for a pet. While getting odd pets wasn’t unheard of at this time, Anne couldn’t see ever letting a monkey into their house. So for Kate’s birthday, Tom and Anne bought her a stuffed plush monkey. They carried it out of the house and across the street to a small pine tree that sat in the lot facing their home which would later become the site of Chief Joseph Middle School. They put the monkey in one of the lower branches of the tree.

When Kate came out later that morning, her parents looked out the big picture window facing the street. One of them asked, “Why, Kate! What is that funny looking thing sitting in the tree over there?” Kate looked out the window and started jumping up and down yelling, “Monkey! Monkey! Baby monkey!” Then her dad carried her across the street to capture the monkey for her very own pet.