PLEASANT DAYS SPRING 2020 THE MAGAZINE FORTHE SAUDIMAGAZINE ARAMCO FOR RETIREESRETIRED WORLDWIDEARAMCONS

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12 The Cape And the Couturier CanCan an article of clothingc link yeyesterdaysst to totoday—anddda tell a lloveovee story, too? ThThee cape worn for a photoph in 1940 by 1010 KaKathleentth Ray Barger AramconsA CCelebrate!lb ! en router to meeting Nöel surprise! Bill Walker receives a door prize from his hherer geologist wife Judy at the Aramco Annuitants Christmas Party hhusbandussb Tom in in Austin on Dec. 4. Around 130 retirees and family SaSann Francisco, and members enjoyed the company of colleagues at fêtes in rrenewedenne by her Austin and Houston, while four 1950s “Swinging Singles” grgranddaughter,aan members recalled old times and friends in Berkeley, Calif. cocouturieruut Amelia BBrown,roow proves ththat’sat certainly true.

1818 RememberingRemembering Sultan Qaboos Sultan Qaboos ibn Said Al Said, who died in January, left a profound mark on Oman, the country he ruled for 50 years. Many Aramcons who visited the sultanate experienced his cultural impact firsthand, and a few had closer connections.

Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah ADDRESS CORRESPONDENCE TO PRESIDENT AND CEO Mohammed S. Alshammari The Editor, Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah “Pleasant Days,” is produced for annuitants, Aramco Americas DIRECTOR, PUBLIC AFFAIRS Abdulrahman A. Bayounis families and friends of Aramco, now Saudi Two Allen Center EDITOR Arthur Clark Aramco, and its associated companies 1200 Smith St. by Aramco Americas. CIRCULATION Melissa Altman Houston, TX 77002 Website: https://americas.aramco.com/en/creating-

[email protected] DESIGN Graphic Engine Design Studio CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT: ARTHUR CLARK; COURTESY AMELIA BROWN (2); EDWARD FOX value/services/public-affairs/publications

SPRING 2020. ISSN-1319-1512

97210araD2R1.indd 1 4/14/20 7:51 AM 24 Beginningg To Look Like Home Etta Sutton’s 1967 journal has only four months 21 Peripatetic Photographer filled in, but they are crucial ones Wins New Prize covering a journey ttoo ththee kingdom that “transformednsformed mmyy entireentire Shaikh Amin, 92, embarked on a new photographic journey—to family’s trajectory,” writesit JodieJdi CastellaniCtlli Australia—last year, and also added to his trove of image awards by (AB76). Discovering her late mother’s journal reprising a favorite subject in Saudi Arabia: the Sacred Mosque in gave her a deeper understanding of an Makkah. Read about the derring-do behind one of the former chief “amazingly brave” woman. photographer’s most popular pictures.

30 Reunions Reconsidered As Al-Ayyam Al- Jamilah went to press, the impact of COVID-19 had resulted in post- ponement of the eighth UKaramcons Reunion for a year, until October 2021. In the U.S., the hosts of the 32nd biennial Annuitants Reunion 28 BratB t RecountsRt were watching de- velopments closely, California Blaze Escape hoping to hold the Mike Keller (AB69) and his wife Christina escaped the biennial get-together latest wildfire to scorch Sonoma County, Calif., last in September as year. He looks at the damage left by the flames, pays planned and fill tribute the firefighters who saved their hometown of these seats in Colo- Windsor and draws lessons from what happened. rado Springs.

Cover: This ca. 1890s cape, with hand-embroidered, gold-couched cord work and fine embroidery, all Story ideas? Please share on ivory wool, passed down from Kathleen Ray your tales with readers Barger, the wife of pioneer company geologist Tom Barger, to her granddaughter Amelia Brown, an up- by contacting the and-coming couturier, who renewed its frayed lining editor at arthur.clark@ in blue silk. Kathleen went on to a life in Saudi aramcoamericas.com. Arabia, where she’d dreamt of residing as a child. CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT: SHAIKH AMIN; JODIE SUTTON; KAREN HANCOCK, SONOMA COUNTY SHERIFF›S OFFICE

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I proudly told her that I used to March 5, 2019 workwo for Aramco and am now retired As an Aramco employee from 1977 in Texas. Then Debbie said she was an through 2006 I never got a chance to AramcoAra Brat. travel for enjoyment. After retiring to I apologized…and said her name did Karachi I decided not to work anymore, notno ring a bell. So we started throwing but instead enjoy traveling in Pakistan namesnam at each other and…we realized and around the world. thattha we were both at the Brat Reunion In December I saw an advertisement in PPhoenix in May 2019…. for a trip to the interior of Sindh, my TheT posts from all our mutual home province in Pakistan, so I booked friendsfrie show what a special gift a trip with my two grandsons, Obaid AramcoAra Brats have. and Habib, in February. The members of I would like to say “thank you” our group came from the USA, Egypt, toto Debbie for taking the effort and Australia and Syria, as well as Pakistan. timetim to say “hello.” Like they always Imagine my surprise when visiting say,say “When you see something (an Rani Kot Fort—the largest in the world, AramcoAra T-shirt, hat or bumper sticker), dating back some 1,100 years and sur- Sami Juraifani’s Aramco T-shirt sparked say something!” rounded by walls some 20 miles long— a chance reunion between the RT72 SamiS Juraifani (RT72) that I met another Aramco retiree! graduate and Debbie Urenovich- [email protected] After visiting the Great Wall I decided Vassallo (DH84) in Philadelphia. to stay back and relax, and a couple NOTE: Sami’s father, the late Hamad joined me. As it was midday, I took off T-shirts Spark Juraifani, joined Aramco in 1951 and my jacket. My T-shirt said “Ras Tanura retired as vice president of Corporate Friendships Producing Department,” my last depart- Planning in 1999. Sami retired from ment at Saudi Aramco. October 7, 2019 Crude Oil Sales & Marketing in 2012 Abdul Saeed Rajput saw my T-shirt I’m very proud of Aramco and I walk after a 35-year career. As of 2020 his and said he worked as a scientist in the around wearing Aramco T-shirts siblings Khalid, Tariq, Dina, Ziyad and because you never know who will stop Laboratories Dept. in Dhahran from Hatim are all Aramco employees, giving you on the street and say they worked 1975-95. What a great coincidence that the Juraifani family a whopping total for Aramco, or knew somebody who we never met in Saudi Arabia and now of 253 years of company service. Deb- worked there, or they may even be we were meeting in a remote desert bie’s father Mike worked in the Process friends I had not seen in many years. area of Sindh! Computer Dept. from 1974-85, and I wore Aramco T-shirts in Austin, her mother Mary was a nurse at the Retirees Iqbal Khan and Abdul Saeed Texas, where many Aramcons live, but Dhahran Health Center. Debbie lives in Rajput (first and second from left), who’d no one stopped me to ask. But guess Souderton,Soude to , Penn.e never met, “reunited” at Rani Kot Fort in C what? While I was in downtown Phila- Pakistan when Rajput spotted Khan’s “Ras P:

delphia last September a fellow Brat, Tanura Producing Department” T-shirt. TOP:TOP COURTESY SAMI JURAIFAN; LOWER: COURTESY ENGR. IQBAL AHMED KHAN Debbie Urenovich-Vassallo (DH84), stopped me because I was wearing an Aramco shirt. Below is a summary of what I posted on Facebook. Debbie and I got 329 likes and 50 beautiful comments, the most I have ever personally received. On Sept. 13, while visiting Philadel- phia…to assist our son Ziyad, 20, move from his old apartment at Drexel Uni- versity, my wife Elizabeth and I had the pleasure to meet Debbie Urenovich. Debbie and her husband Nick were moving their daughter Madeline, 20, into the same apartment building where my daughter Hannah, 24, and Ziyad have lived for several years. To make a long story short…while Debbie was walking out of the build- ing she looked at my T-shirt and nicely asked, “Do you work for Aramco?”

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He wanted to know about the diver. I only have 24 years to go. Nouf thanks to Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah! changes that took place after he left. I Alosaimi said she and the Pink Bubbles Joyce Kriesmer and Jackie Voskamp explained more about Ras Tanura and a Divers in Jiddah will help make that [email protected] little about Dhahran. happen. We talked about two and half hours Thank you again from the bottom of and exchanged details for future com- my heart for everything you did to make November 4, 2019 munications. It was a historical meeting my dream come true. Ruth and I… were very interested in and discussion on Saudi Aramco and Jennifer Simpson the article about long-distance swim- the long stay we had there. We made [email protected] ming because one of the engineers at a pledge to meet in California on my NOTE: Jennifer wrote again Dec. 12, Wright Water Engineers (WWE), Karl next visit. saying, “Big news about Nouf.” She Kingery, is a long-distance swimmer. Engr. Iqbal Ahmed Khan said Nike had chosen her Saudi div- In September, Karl provided support [email protected] ing friend to introduce a new line to Sarah Thomas of Conifer, Colo., as of swimming suits. A story with her she broke the record for four consecu- tive crossings of the English Channel photo in the full-body suit appeared in [starting from England]. ‘Arabian Nights’ that day’s Arab News under the head- SheSe beganbega thete swims justju after mid- liline,ne, “Whyy Nike’sNike’s NewNeww ModestModest Swim-Swim- Remembered nightnight SSept.ept. 1155 aandnd fifinishednishe Sept. 17 wwearearr isis a Game-Changer.”Game-Changer.” October 31, 2019 at sunrisesunrise,, 5544 hhoursours andand 101 minutes Thanks so much for including the storyory later.later. SShehe isis a survivor of about Karen and Mike’s “Arabian breastbreast cancercancer, for which Nights” birthday party in the latest she completedcomplete treatment issue. It was a special event for us andd in 202018,18, anandd dedicated seeing it in print really gave us some-- the 82.5-mile82.5-mile swim to thing to remember. other breast-breast-cancer survi- Harlene Morrow vors.vors. ShShee isis givingg a WWE [email protected] lunchtime ppresentationre Nov.Nov. 12.12. AllAll thatthat iiss tto say that Al-AyyamAl-Ayyam Al-JamilahAl- Mermaids of Arabiaa isis alwaalwaysys rrelevantele and November 1, 2019 interesting!interesting! I’m starting to get lots of complimentsts KenK WrightWrighht regarding the article “Joining the [email protected]@wrighh ‘Mermaids of Arabia’” [Fall 2019] fromm friends in the States…. My next diving goal is to break thee MarMarchrch 55,, 202020220 world record for oldest female scuba I wwasas astoastonishednish and The Fall 2019 issue featured “cover stunnedstunned to rreade that a girls”girls JenniferJennifer SimpsonSimpson (right) anandd woman,woman, FlFlorenceore Chad- NoufNouf AlAlosaimi.osaaimi. wick,wick, crossedcrossed the English Channel.Channel. [[WasWa she] a

DAYS FALL 2019 PLEASANT genie?genie? I dodon’tn’t have words RETIREESRET WORLDWIDE FORTHE SAUDIMAGAZINE ARAMCO FOR THE MAGAZINE FlorenceF Chadwick wades ashore in forfor hherer courage,coura endur- FranceF after crossing the English ance andand willpower.willpower. ChannelC in 1951. ShahidShahid HusainHusain [email protected]@rediffma Swimmer’sSwimmer’s StoryStory CCatches Eyes NovemberN 1, 2019 ‘Special’ Fall Issue WeW are genuinely honored to have November 2, 2019

BAKER bbeen included in the unusual and I always enjoy reading Al-Ayyam ininteresting story about Florence Chad- Al-Jamilah cover to cover, but I espe- wwick and the new restaurant in San cially connected with the Fall 2019 issue. JENNIFER DDiego named after her [“The Florence I was trained to scuba dive in Saudi Joining the SServes Up ‘Cool’ Pool Memories,” Fall Arabia by one of the originally certi- ‘Mermaids‘Mermaids 22019]. If we become famous it will be fied PADI instructors (Bob Neff) and Arabia’Arabia’ COURTESY JENNIFER BAKER JENNIFER COURTESY ofof Page 12

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have been scuba diving ever since, his book Golden Swords andndd Pots most recently in the Galapagos. Jen- and Pans. It is worth readingg aass iitt nifer Simpson’s article brought back provides history of the earlyy daysdays ofof many fine dives in the Arabian Gulf King Sa’ud and the connectiontion ofof and Red Sea. Aramco and the king…. As I am also an open-water swim- It remains one of my favoriterite mer (usually in Puget Sound, the books because of José’s personalsonal Columbia River and Lake Washington), recollections. I was inspired by the article about Flor- Bonnie App ence Chadwick (although the English [email protected] Channel is not on my bucket list). I had the pleasure of getting ac- quainted with Bert Seal at the 2009 February 19, 2020 KSA Reunion and was delighted to The “Red Palace” story reallyy tootookk learn of his experience as a “loanee me back in history! It made me re- photographer” at the Red Palace. imagine everything I saw as iitt might Finally, as someone who documents have looked like back in the dayday.. her travels in “trip reports,” I was I also imagined how amazingzing moved by “The Gift of a Lifetime” by [Bert] Seal’s experience mustst have Hassan ibn Youssef Yassin, who turned been photographing in the palace inin his travels into a poetic cloud. the ‘50s. It is an honor to haveave my Clydia Cuykendall name on top of this story. [email protected] Mohammed Askandrani [email protected] NOTE: Saudi photographer Moham-Moham- ‘Red Palace’ med Askandrani and Bert Seal,eal, anan Aramco photographer from 1955-60,1955-60, Strikes Chord Janny Slotboom, who lived in Dubai provided photos for the storyy aboutabout with her husband Hans on assignment November 5, 2019 Prince Sultan ibn Fahd Al Saud’sud’ss “Red Seeing the picture with José Arnold in 1989, returned from “wet and cold” Palace” exhibition in Jiddah inn 2019.2019. in the background in the “Red Pal- Holland to see her daughter Monique in ace” story [Fall 2019] reminded me of early 2019 and early 2020. Golden Swords and Pots and Pans Burj Khalifa, went to the “Roads by Aramcon José Arnold reflects the DubaiDubai HHigh of Arabia” exhibition and viewed a kingdom’s culture. DecemberDecembeer 9,9 2019 Rembrandt painting at the Louvre ForFor ChristChristmas,m the girls [Monique Abu Dhabi…. I spent many days at andand Arleen]Arleen] gave me a trip to the beach and enjoyed the Friday fire- DubaiDubai forfor theyth agreed that I works ringing in the weekend…. neededneeded ttoo wwarm up my bones…. Dubai has definitely changed. It’s I flflewew out out with Monique from expensive, but also a place with spec- HollandHolland on Jan. 15…and before I tacular architecture, and if you can kknewnew itit wewe were landing back to a dream it then they can build it! placeplace I llefteft over 29 years ago with I had such a wonderful time that by my late huhusbands Hans. Hans’s last the time my departure date came up I aassignmentssignment was in Dubai for nine really didn’t want to leave so Monique months,months, so I was looking forward extended my trip for another month. I to seeing ifif things had changed. finally left two months later! To thosethose who haven’t been in Janny Slotboom DubaiDubai sincesince the ’90s then, yes, c/o [email protected] theythey definitelydefinit have. My first few NOTE: Janny enjoyed Dubai so much daysdays I walkwalkede around with neck that she flew back “from the wet and crampcramp just looking up at the most cold in Holland” to warm up early this spspectacularectacular buildings ever. year, said Monique. Hans Slotboom During mym stay Monique and joined Tapline at Qaisumah in 1963 friendsfriends PaulPau Rendek (RT85) and and Janny and Monique joined him in GrantGrant KingKing made sure I kept 1966; Arleen (RT86) was born in 1970. extremelyextremely busy.b I went to the old Hans joined the Marine Dept. in Ras suqsuqs, toto mostmo of the malls, saw Tanura in 1980 and retired in 1990. TOP: COURTESY MONIQUE SLOTBOOM; LOWER: ARTHUR CLARK

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Knox Flies East for Wedding

atsy Knox, a dietician at the Dhahran other friends who have passed were read lawi and her husband Saleem, who was P Health Center (DHC) from 1981-94, by their friends…. a pulmonary specialist at the DHC. They flew back to the Middle East from her “Wonderful dinner with every Leba- went to a restaurant in Chemlan, built in home in Mary Esther, Fla., last summer to nese dish imaginable, even ice-cream 1936, “the same year I was born, with attend the wedding of the daughter of her cones of a favorite local nut. Usual tradi- a wonderful view of the sea, the airport late friend Antonio Moukarzel, longtime tion of tossing the bride and groom in the and Beirut,” Knox said. Middle East Airlines reservations supervisor air.... As midnight came the disco played in al-Khobar. ‘Hit the Road Jack.’” Patsy Knox stands second from left, between bride Lea Moukarzel and her Knox, a member of the Arabian Sec- During her visit to Lebanon, Knox brother Yorgo. To the bride’s left are her tion of the Ninety-Nines, the international renewed her friendship with Balkis Kib- sister Lynn and their mother Gretta. organization of women pilots, attended the marriage of Lea Moukarzel and Roy Challita in Domaine de Padoue, a small monastery in Ghebale, Lebanon, in the mountains above Jounieh, on Aug. 11. Houda Mattar, a Lebanese member of the Ninety-Nines, and the bride’s brother Yorgo met her at the Beirut Airport. At the bride’s home in Kahale, near Beirut, “a band played as the mother of the groom came to get the bride and then everyone left for a one-and-a-half-hour ride in white limousines (with flowers and ribbons) up the mountains,” Knox wrote. “The setting was beautiful…everyone facing west as the sun set. Altar arch of pastel roses. Full moon. “Nice remembrances of Antonio and

Aramcon’s Wife Wins ‘Witness of History’ Award leksandra Ziółkowska-Boehm, whose same year his book was published. providing insights into the Arab and A late husband Norman Boehm worked “Norman was reserved, attentive and Muslim worlds. “One [issue] dealt with in Saudi Arabia and the New York office had respect for other people,” Ziółkowska- the love of the pure Arabian horse by the between 1952 and 1974, received a “Wit- Boehm wrote about her husband, who Polish, its importation into Poland and ness of History” prize from the Institute of was assigned to Ras Tanura as a member their continued breeding of the line. My National Remembrance (INR) in Warsaw, of the Research & Development group. Polish-born wife shows that issue with Poland, on Oct. 29. INR President Dr. Indeed, he wrote that living and working pride to visitors.” Jarosław Szarek presented the award to there meant “exposure and contact with her and six others for their work to pre- Saudis constantly. They exuded a warmth Author Aleksandra Ziółkowska-Boehm, whose late husband Norman worked for Aramco serve and promote knowledge of recent and pleasant manner usually with a smile.” between 1952 and 1974, appears right with the Polish history. “As an annuitant,” he added, “I am six other “Witness of History” prizewinners in Ziółkowska-Boehm lives in Delaware. also privileged to receive Aramco World,” Warsaw, Poland. Three other prizewinners hailed from Ukraine and one each from Italy, Balarus and Hungary. Szarek praised Ziółkowska-Boehm for “familiarizing the American reader with Polish history in an accessible way.” She has published six books dealing with Pol- ish history. She also wrote the foreword to her husband’s book From a Small Town to the Big World, which included chapters on his career with Aramco. The couple married in 1990 and Norman died in 2016, the

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“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebeck welcomed By Mae Ghalwash (DH78) teacher’s aide. His father retired in 1995. contestant Ryan Bradley (DH88) and his dad “Jeopardy!” was a family favorite, said Pat to the quiz show’s taping. Bradley won This quiz-whiz kid grew up in Dhah- Bradley, who has fond memories of play- the “Jeopardy!” crown Oct. 21. Q: ran, Saudi Arabia, and became ing along with his grandparents during “Jeopardy!” champion last fall. summer vacations in the United States. “I thought that if I was going to be on “It was a show I would hang out and “Jeopardy!” I wanted to be on it when he watch with them,” he said. “It was a was there,” he said. Who is Ryan Bradley (DH88)? A: bond.” He was not disappointed. When Bradley Airing in its present form since 1984, arrived at the studio in August to tape the That’s right. Ryan Bradley, the son of an- “Jeopardy!” is popular among knowl- show Trebeck was gracious, taking time nuitants Pat Bradley and Linda Hunsberger, edge-game aficionados like Bradley, to chat with audience members including defeated his rivals Oct. 21 to become the whose preferred game growing up was Bradley’s dad. champion on “Jeopardy!” dubbed “Ameri- Trivial Pursuit. “Jeopardy!” contestants “He’s…an inspiration to the degree ca’s most-popular quiz show.” He returned face off in groups of three to compete for that even through [his illness] he’s the in the next episode but was eliminated. the title and money by answering ques- constant professional” as a host, Bradley Tens of thousands apply to appear tions on an array of trivia. said. “If you didn’t know that he had on the show annually and the selection The show’s top players include Brad cancer, you wouldn’t know.” process—packed with quizzes and inter- Rutter, who has won nearly $5 million, Bradley started his first match pumped views—can take more than two years. and Ken Jennings, who holds the longest but focused. “It’s hard not to be nervous Last year 80,000 applicants took the winning streak at 74 games and has on stage,” he said, noting the difference initial online quiz and only 2,500 made it amassed more than $4.3 million, accord- from playing along at home, but “I got in to auditions. Bradley became one of 400 ing to Corina Nusu, “Jeopardy!” senior the zone.” who made the stage, doing so in just contestant coordinator. He certainly did. He crushed the catego- five months. During his audition—which included ries on Canada and gender-free terminol- Bradley, a senior marketing vice president more quizzes, interviews and a mock ogy, securing the title and winning $9,100. at DreamWorks in Glendale, Calif., believes “Jeopardy!” game—Bradley charmed the Unfortunately, Bradley’s next game, his upbringing in Dhahran intrigued the selection team not only with stories of which aired Oct. 22, was taped just 15 min- contestant-search team during his audition. Saudi Arabia, but also with tales of his utes after the first (five episodes are taped The search team said, “Come up with… dog who has her own Instagram account per day) and that put him off his stride. interesting facts about yourself,” he (@scruffabella) and his enjoyment of the “I was so excited that I won…that I recalled. “The fact that people are always game, said Nusu. wasn’t fully present in the second game,” excited about is that…I grew up in Saudi “Ryan was vivacious and lovely and light he said, expressing frustration over forget- Arabia!” he added with a laugh, saying the and had fun playing the game,” she said. ting the accomplishments of Barbara Strei- team bombarded him with questions about “We like…that [contestants] be competitive sand in the final question. “There was no life in the kingdom. and also know how to have fun.” excuse…. I have her albums!” he said. Bradley arrived in Dhahran with his fam- Bradley listed his long fandom and mem- After winning another $1,000, Bradley ily in 1980. He was in the second grade and ories of his grandparents as key motives ceded his crown. his brother Matt was a year ahead. His dad for applying. And there was Alex Trebeck, “I would have liked to stay around worked in the Transportation Dept. and his the beloved host of “Jeopardy!” who is longer,” he said. “But I’m still a “Jeopardy!” mom worked part-time, including a job as a battling pancreatic cancer. champion!”

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It’s a Small (Aramco) World

By Dan Norton (DH79) father retired in 2003. expressed an interest in working together When I mentioned meeting Jeff to my again. re you a Brat?” With that question father in 1995, I learned that he not only I was leading a study on hypersonic “A a friendship began. Twenty-five knew his parents but had worked with weapons and needed someone with deep years later it’s still going strong. Connie in Mechanical Services. expertise in combat operations. I thought, In July 1995, Air Force Maj. Jeffrey During 1995 Jeff and I worked to- “When you get a chance to hire someone Kendall came to the RAND Corporation gether on a few projects and enjoyed of his caliber, you take it,” and Jeff proved in Santa Monica, Calif., where I work to lunch with Chris and Connie during their a perfect fit. serve a one-year tour as a research fellow. visit to California. That feeling was mutual. A fighter pilot, he soon found himself in a The following summer Jeff moved to “I had a great experience serving as a project meeting with me. the Republic of Korea for an assignment. RAND Fellow and remembered how much After the meeting I asked Jeff if he’d He went on to an illustrious Air Force direct impact their research was having,” been deployed for Operation Desert career, retiring as a brigadier general in Jeff said. “The study I sponsored refamil- Storm in early 1991. When he said he had 2013. In addition to assignments in the Far iarized me with the organization’s reputa- flown F-15s out of the Dhahran Air Base East and Middle East, he served in Europe tion for critical research. during the campaign I mentioned that and the United States and held two more “My reintroduction to RAND was a way I’d grown up next door, prompting Jeff’s think-tank fellowships. of continuing to give back through my in- “Brat” question. In his last assignment, as director of ternational and defense-related expertise, It turned out we had more in common Warfighter Systems Integration, he spon- as well as using the experience of working than we realized. sored a RAND study on the effects of with other think tanks, to contribute to Jeff, the son of Aramco retirees Chris cyber weapons on combat operations. studies that have an impact on decision- and Connie Robbins, had visited Dhah- I moved ahead in my career, too, leading makers. And I loved the chance to work ran as a returning student when he was a series of studies for the Air Force on the with Dan and other old friends again!” at the Air Force Academy in Colorado way to becoming a senior analyst at RAND. Springs, Colo., in the late ‘70s and early In the summer of 2013, a chance en- Dan Norton (DH79), a RAND Corporation senior ‘80s. My dad, the late Howard Norton, counter at the Pentagon put us back analyst, stands right, next to retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Kendall, whom he hired to and my mom Mary were longtime Aram- in touch. We had lunch several months work at RAND. Kendall is the son of Aramco cons. My dad retired in 1988 and Jeff’s later and Jeff, who had had just retired, retirees Chris and Connie Robbins.

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Nonagenarians Celebrate in Texas

oris Bedrossian Bobb and Marion cony Vacuum—which became an Aramco D Rich DeFord celebrated nonagenarian shareholder and was later named Mobil. birthdays this winter, turning 97 and 92, She married the late Bill Rich, whom respectively. she’d met when she worked for Gulf Oil in Bedrossian Bobb arrived in Dhahran Venezuela, and Lisa and her brother were with her husband Dr. Arthur Bobb and born there. Rich worked in Dhahran and sons Fred, Alan and Andrew in 1963. She Yanbu‘ and retired in 1985. returned to her home in Drexel, Penn., in 1980 and now lives in Houston. Rich DeFord celebrated her birthday at her assisted- living facility in Austin with her daughter Lisa Rich Hunter and her husband Sun Down, her son Stephen and other family members and friends. As a five-year-old in 1933 Above: Doris Bedrossian Bobb, who turned she moved with her family 97 on Dec. 2, poses with a visitor at her apart- to Palestine where her father ment complex in Houston. Left: Marion Rich John Wier worked for So- Deford blew out “92 candles” at her birthday party in Austin on Nov. 6.

Friendships Renewed in Toronto orty-four retirees and family members conversations and brought back memories Jessica drove from Peterborough, Ontario. F renewed old friendships at the sixth of our lives in Saudi Aramco,” Khory said. “There is something about meeting Aramco Reunion in Toronto on Nov. 2. Guests enjoyed two lively games of other Aramcons where all the excitement, Jasmine Carvalho and Yasmin Khory bingo, but “most of all the reunion was nostalgia and friendships come together to reprised their roles as hosts. Javaid Ha- a great time to meet and catch up with make an exhilarating feeling in each one mid coordinated with BarBQ Tonite for friends,” she added. of us,” Khory wrote later. “That’s what we a memorable afternoon get-together. Most attendees hailed from the To- felt when we met all of you.” A slideshow of the 2019 reunion in ronto area, but Ahmed Munir came from Saudi Arabia and the previous year’s Midland, Mich., while Adrian and Ilene The sixth Aramco Reunion in Toronto on Nov. 2 drew a crowd of 44 happy retirees and family Toronto reunion, combined with some Vandenbroek drove from Sarnia, Ontario, members. Retiree Ahmed Munir drove the nostalgia photos, “made for interesting and Dr. John Ashbourne and his daughter farthest—from his home in Midland, Mich.

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‘The Cricketer’

aushad Shah was just four years it vaguely comes to my mind that his N old when he left Saudi Arabia with batting was his strength and his ‘cover- his family in 1978 upon the death of his drive’ was one of the deadliest during father, Aramcon Yousaf Shah. However, matches. His teammates were of differ- tales of his dad’s fearsome batting on ent nationalities….” company cricket fields, enhanced by Shaikh Amin, who joined Aramco in “treasure boxes” of pictures in his home 1948 and retired in 1985, recalled watch- in Lahore, Pakistan, have kept him close ing Shah play against teams from Ras to the company. Tanura and Abqaiq. “My father learned shorthand to “He was an excellent batsman…mak- cope with piled-up assignments includ- ing so many runs,” said Amin. “If he had ing stock-taking and inventory manage- not joined Aramco he probably would have ment in the A-Block [the Admin. Bldg.] been picked by Pakistan’s National Team.” in Dhahran, but he was famous in the Naushad returned to the kingdom in community as a cricketer for the Aramco 2019 for the Fourth KSA Expatriates Re- team,” Naushad said. union. He said he was struck by nostalgia Yousaf Shah arrived at Aramco in 1956 in al-Khobar where he was born and lived from Pakistan, where he excelled at cricket. with his family, and in Dhahran when he “My father played cricket in his early remembered his dad’s stories. days at the district level at Sialkot, a city “Most of the things had changed a of sports heritage and culture in Pun- lot in al-Khobar, but some of the monu- jab,” said his son. “After he was hired by ments were still in place, with some reno- Aramco he started playing cricket for a vations,” he said. company team. One thing that had not changed was “He had an honor of becoming the cricket’s place in the Shah family. “I play Top: Yousaf Shah, renowned for his bat- team captain. At Aramco, his team won cricket as a recreation activity with my ting prowess, led a winning cricket team many matches. kids and friends every fortnight,” said at Aramco. Above: His son Naushad poses “I was very young at that time, but Naushad. with his family in Lahore, Pakistan.

Karachi Reunion Proves Popular

By Engr. Iqbal Khan attended his first SAEEA reunion. performances by SAEEA members Zafar The group mourned the deaths of Ahmed and Sabir Ali Khan and songs by he 22nd gathering of the Saudi Aram- five members, Mahmood Alam, Farrogh Iftikhar Baig. co Ex-Employees Association (SAEEA) Ahmed, Mohammad Sabir, Ahmad Shah T Retirees Mohammad Iftikhar Baig (left) and Moin in Karachi on Jan. 5 drew 132 members Khan and Syed Mohammad Abu Zafar, Hashmi enjoyed the SAEEA luncheon Jan. 5. and dependents who enjoyed meeting since the previous reunion in August. So did Armeen Rauf, granddaughter of retiree old friends at a delicious luncheon at Attendees enjoyed instrumental Shafiq Ahmed Khan and Shahnaz Shafiq. Hotel Mehran. The SAEEA wel- comed new members including Amjad Hus- sain, who worked for the Training Dept. in Jiddah from 1977- 2005, Ahmed Jamal Qureshi (Pipelines Dept., Shedgum, 1983- 92) and Irshad Ahmed (Power Distribution Dept., Yanbu‘, 2002- 17). Longtime member Moin Hashmi, who lives in Islamabad, about 700 miles from Karachi,

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97210araD4R1.indd 9 4/13/20 6:58 PM ARAMCONS

HOLIDAYS IN HOUSTON AND AUSTIN

Around 130 retirees and family members about old times” made the get-together “A Chorus Line” and “42nd Street.” celebrated the holidays with longtime fun, he said. “It’s always about the peo- Elsewhere, the conversation turned to friends and neighbors in Austin and ple…seeing how they’ve changed or haven’t seasonal sports at Aramco—basketball in Houston, catching up on old times and changed.” particular. Tom Doody and John Fitzmau- enjoying each other’s company. His wife and four other members of rice, who played on the Legal Eagles and the Beta Sigma Phi philanthropic sorority Spligs, respectively, in the 1980s and ‘90s, in Dhahran—Randa Owen, Maria Kean, remembered good times with pals in the Austin Maria Teresa Berg and Kathy Owen— Third St. gym. David and Vicki Jessich, assisted by Judy reunited at the dinner. As a group, their “There were some really good players,” Walker and Jack Meyer, presided over a memberships spanned 1985-2018. said Fitzmaurice, among them Ernie Kent, Dec. 4 dinner party at the Austin Club Attendees included family members for- who headed a local Saudi team and went near the Texas capitol that drew 74 guests. merly and currently based in the kingdom. on to coach at the University of Oregon David congratulated the oldest and Retiree David LaRue attended with his and Washington State University, and youngest retirees in his opening remarks: daughter Laurie LaRue Kamin (DH97), Buddy Vance, a 1960-64 standout at the Lucy Templer, 93, and Ike Bellaci, 58. who lives in Dhahran with her husband University of Kansas. Templer met her husband Jim after Clayton and their daughter Eloise. LaRue arriving in Dhahran as a secretary in 1955, retired from Drilling and Workover in and the family lived in Dhahran, Beirut 2008 after a 17-year career. Houston and The Hague. He retired in 1982. His wife Debbie couldn’t make it to the Bill Smart and Sally Johnson welcomed 54 Bellaci, who retired from Reservoir party: She was home in Conroe practicing guests to the Houston Area Retirees Holi- Engineering in 2018 after a 20-year career, for the town’s holiday play. Her thespian day Luncheon at the Royal Oaks Country attended with his wife Valorie. career in the Dhahran Theatre Group Club on Dec. 10. “Just seeing everybody and reminiscing included roles in “Les Miserables,” Peter Thatcher, who closed a 42-year

Seventy-four party-goers in Austin took time out to pose for a picture at the Austin Club near the Texas capitol. ARTHUR CLARK ARTHUR

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97210araD5R1.indd 10 4/13/20 7:02 PM Fifty-four guests attended the Houston Area Retirees Holiday Luncheon. “Miss Willie” Atkins (seated front row, second from left, next to longtime retiree group member and host Verne Stueber) had celebrated her 89th birthday the previous day.

career in mid-October, was the most She joined the company in 1990, retired members who had passed away in 2019: recent retiree. He attended with his wife in 2016 and celebrated her 89th birthday Shafiq Kombargi, Billy Jones, Ed Mar- Sarah Sherbrooke, who called the event “a Dec. 9. She called the holiday gathering tin, Mike Betler, Joe Koscinski, Gladys family Christmas party.” “beautiful.” Thailor and Marjorie McQuillen. Travis Green, who retired from Aramco Bonnie App, who joined Aramco in He thanked Paul and Margaret Daf- Services Company (ASC) in March 2019, 1959 when she was 24 and retired from fin for hosting the December holiday was the second-most-recent retiree. “It’s ASC in 1994, fondly recalled watching luncheon, and those who who had hosted nice to be back with a bunch of people you holiday celebrations on the ballfield in previous 2019 luncheons: Dawn and know,” he said, singling out “Miss Willie” Dhahran the year she arrived. “That was John Mack, himself and his wife Mary, Atkins, whose smiling presence at the ASC a wonderful experience,” she said. Stan and Peggy McGinley, and Eric and cafeteria was legend. Bill Smart recalled the retiree group Janice Madsen.

Pictured front row from left are Carol Keyes Rader, father, Aramco President Ruth Wright, Jennifer Rader and Klaus Kutz. Back row: Swinging R.L. Keyes, to high-level Doug and Fran Grant and Ken Wright. meetings and dinners with company management and Singles Saudi officials,” Wright said. “She described the Remember warm hospitality she always received from the ‘Happy ‘50s’ Saudi families during her The Swinging Singles held a joyful mini- visits.” reunion Jan. 12 in the Claremont Hotel The group reminisced in Berkeley, Calif., overlooking San about their absent Hous- Francisco Bay, trading “happy stories of ton buddy Verne Stueber Dhahran from the early 1950s,” reported and how he met his late Ken Wright, who attended with his wife wife Becky, a nurse in Ruth, whom he met in Dhahran. Dhahran, at a “singles” “Our first order of business was to party. Wright recalled that toast Nancy Rushmer, who passed away he’d introduced the couple tion for the Trans-Arabian Pipeline to an in July 2019,” Wright said, adding that after being cared for by Becky. underwater pipeline to Bahrain. she and Ruth had developed “a special Conversation soon turned to sail- Fran Grant, who met her late husband bond” when they worked together with ing in the Gulf and Half Moon Bay on Bob in the kingdom, attended with her experts who were studying Saudi Ara- weekends. son Doug. “The Grants especially appre- bian culture. “Sailing helped us learn about the ciated their many years of living in the “We talked about Nancy’s trip to Iran Gulf and water recreation, including region, which taught them so much about in 1954 to marry Jack Rushmer, whose scuba diving with the Dhahran Scuba the rich local culture and the history of father Lawrence was Ras Tanura district Club, organized by Len Lucas, one of the Arab countries,” Wright said. manager…and her adventurous spirit that Carl Renfer’s Construction Dept. super- Attendees ended the reunion by shar- never wavered,” he said. visors,” Wright said. ing photos of themselves in the 1950s Carol Keyes Rader “talked about Wright worked with both men on “when we were all young and happy happy memories when accompanying her projects ranging from corrosion protec- Aramcons,” he said. TOP: ARTHUR CLARK; LOWER: COURTESY KEN WRIGHT

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97210araD6R1.indd 12 4/7/20 8:34 PM CapeCapeTheThe the Couturier By Jane Waldron Grutz

Our story begins in August 1940 when Kathleen Ray Barger traveled from North Dakota to San Francisco to join her husband Tom, a geologist on leave from the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (later Aramco) in Saudi Arabia. It had been three years since the young couple had married and last seen one another, and after such a long separation Kathleen could hardly wait to join Tom.

Never having been to the Arab world, she the cape again. But some 80 years later a knew little about it. In fact, her only con- young admirer did just that. nection was an embroidered cape given to In early 2019 Amelia Brown, one of her by her great aunt, Agnes Crawford, Kathleen’s 13 grandchildren and a coutu- ; TC BARGER COLLECTION who—the story went—had received it rier by training, visited San Francisco on from a suitor in the 1890s. business and had her photo taken wear- Decorated with golden embroidery in ing the same cape. The cape, Amelia says, the Ottoman style, it seemed just right reminded her of her adventurous grand- for her long-awaited reunion with her mother, “this incredible woman, a dare- husband. Soon, she believed, they would devil North Dakotan rodeo queen who be in Dhahran, and she happily wore the married a man she loved in secret, moved cape to have her photo taken. to Saudi Arabia and raised a big family But things did not work out the way Kathleen had hoped. Clockwise from opposite: Couturier The Bargers traveled from California Amelia Brown, granddaughter of Kath- to Kathleen’s home in North Dakota leen and Tom Barger, in 2019 chose San Francisco to model the cape—relined and while there, on Oct. 19, an Italian in blue silk—that her grandmother had warplane dropped a load of bombs on worn there en route to meeting her Dhahran. They caused little damage geologist husband, on leave from Saudi and injured no one, but the company Arabia, some 80 years earlier. She calls evacuated all expatriate dependents and her grandmother “a daredevil rodeo queen who married a man she loved..., it became clear that Kathleen’s move to moved to Saudi Arabia and raised a big Saudi Arabia would have to wait. family...while keeping the wildness of It seems unlikely that she ever wore the North Dakota Badlands in her soul.” OPPOSITE: COURTESY AMELIA BROWN; FROM TOP: COURTESY AMELIA BROWN, IN OUT THE BLUE

13 with love and devotion while keeping the Scholarship Program. resemblance to the those on her grand- wildness of the North Dakota Badlands Those influences helped her choose mother’s cape. in her soul.” a career path, but an internship in India Amelia loves embroidery and often Kathleen finally arrived in Saudi Ara- probably inspired her designs the most. works it into her fashion designs, basing bia in February 1945, toward the end of Encouraged by a friend whose rela- her patterns on ones she’s seen on her World War II. Tom had spent the inter- tives ran a sewing-and-embroidery work- travels or on antique textiles she’s found. vening years there, with one trip home, shop in Mumbai, Amelia had traveled She uses beadwork and lace as well, getting on with a career that would lead there in 2007. She spent many of her along with textiles specially dyed to her him to the office of president of Aramco in daytime hours searching the market for specifications. 1959 and chairman of the board in 1968. “carved buttons, metal threads and silk Kathleen worked hard there, too, ribbon trims” for the workshop, she says. helping to establish the Hobby Farm as When time allowed, she lingered over the a riding stable—hearkening back to her worktables, watching embroiderers make days as a “trick rider” in North Dakota the tiniest of stitches to enmesh pearl rodeos—and assisting Arab refugees in beads into the fine lace often used in the Palestine, while raising the couple’s six workshop’s gowns and veils. children, all of whom retained close ties This, she discovered, was the kind of with the Middle East. craftsmanship she hoped to include in her Son Tim, who died in 2018, published own designs. several books about the company and After graduating from Cornell in 2012, Saudi Arabia, among them Out in the Amelia worked with Indian American Blue: Letters from Arabia—1937-1940, fashion designer Naeem Khan and the a rich collection of his parents’ correspon- fashion collective Maiyet before launching dence. He also wrote two books about her own collection in New York in 2017. That’s when Kathleen Barger’s cape entered her life. ‘I was thrilled!’… Kathleen died in 1971 in La Jolla, The Victorian era Calif., where she and Tom had retired in 1969. Tom died in 1986. The cape lingered cape was ‘inspired in the family home for a time, but eventu- by traditional ally found its way to the home of Annie and Vern Hebert in Charlotte, N.C. Ottoman design It was never less than beautiful, but and probably over the years the lining had frayed. Remembering Amelia’s dressmaking made in France.’ skills, Annie and her daughter Elise decided to give it to Amelia. his life in the kingdom, where he grew up “I was thrilled!” Amelia says. She and worked independently for a time. had seen similar designs in the Metro- His siblings Michael, Norah and politan Museum of Art in New York and Teresa majored in Arab studies at realized immediately that the cape was American universities, and Michael from the Victorian era. It was “inspired later worked for Citibank in Riyadh. by traditional Ottoman design [and]… His sister Mary earned a nursing degree probably made in France,” she adds, not- and—after a summer at a clinic in a ing the hand-embroidered, gold-couched refugee camp in Jordan—spent a year cord work and fine embroidery, all on working in a hospital in Riyadh. Annie, ivory wool. the eldest Barger child, followed in her Amelia relined the cape in blue father’s footsteps to the University of silk and had her photo taken wearing North Dakota. She spent most of her it. With her upswept hair she bears a life in Dhahran, until her husband Vern marked resemblance to Kathleen, just as Hebert retired from Aramco in 1987. her embroidery designs bear a marked With so many Arab connections in her family, it was hardly surprising that Ame- Top: Barger sisters (l-r) Annie, Mary lia, the daughter of Teresa Barger and and Teresa posed at the American Uni- her husband Travis Brown, concentrated versity in Cairo centennial celebration her studies on Arabic, along with fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in design, at Cornell University and concur- New York in May 2019. Mary and Teresa wore gowns designed by Amelia Brown, rently in Tunisia and Egypt, where she Teresa’s daughter. Right: Amelia, wear- spent the summers of 2009 and 2010 in ing a dress of her own design, admires the State Department’s Critical Language pharaonic artwork at the Met.

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97210araD6R1.indd 14 4/7/20 8:34 PM Left: Amelia Brown, flanked by Saman Khan (DH00), left, and her sister Saira (DH98), wore gowns designed by Ame- lia to the American University in Cairo centennial event at the Met. Below: A smiling Pharaoh Amenhotep III looks over Amelia, her sister Medora and their mother, all wearing gowns created by Amelia.

She sends the delicate embroidery and beadwork to partner artisanal shops in India to be completed, while she concentrates on designing gowns that are as comfortable to wear as they are elegant to view. It’s a combination that seems to work: Amelia’s designs have been noted in Bespoke Magazine, a lifestyle publication focusing on the Middle East, and featured in fashion shows in the United States and Dubai. A sampling of her gowns may be seen at www.AmeliaBrown.com. Nowhere were they seen to better advantage than at the dinner marking the 100th anniversary of the American Uni- versity in Cairo (AUC), held in the Met- ropolitan Museum of Art in New York in May 2019. To emphasize the event’s Egyptian connection diners were seated in front of Egypt’s ancient Temple of Dendur. “It’s not often you eat dinner with his- tory!” says Annie Hebert, who attended with her sisters Mary and Teresa (who did post-graduate work in Arabic at AUC and is an AUC trustee), and Amelia and her sister Medora. Annie wore a caftan she’d bought some 50 years ago in Beirut, while Mary, Teresa and Medora wore dresses designed by Amelia. Amelia also wore a dress of her own design and she designed the dresses worn by fellow attendees Saira and Saman Khan (DH98 and DH00), the daughters of Aramcons Sanaul and Far- hana Khan. Saira dressed in teal blue for the occa- sion; Saman wore a black gown and jacket, embellished with embroidery not unlike that on Kathleen Barger’s cape. The elegant gowns evoked a Middle Eastern tradition that Amelia hopes to maintain in all her fashions, whether designed for women in the East or women in the West. “It was like wearing a piece of art,” says Saira, an observation Saman quickly echoes. Very likely, Kathleen Barger felt the same when she donned the beautiful embroidered cape that she wore in San Francisco some eight decades ago. OPPOSITE AND THIS PAGE: COURTESY AMELIA BROWN

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97210araD6R1.indd 15 4/7/20 8:34 PM Love Letters to fromArabia

NOTE: Letters between Tom and Kathleen Barger early in their marriage show how much they looked forward to their 1940 reunion in San Francisco, where Kathleen wore her remarkable cape for a photo, after three years of separation. Here are some excerpts of their correspondence published in Out in The Blue: Letters from Arabia—1937-1940.

January 4, 1940 Bismarck [N. Dakota] Just think, our red-letter year. It’s been a long time coming hasn’t it? …Please let us have next summer together.

February 18, 1940 Camp Jabrin [Rub‘ al-Khali] On Valentine’s Day I received three letters from you—all at once. As if that weren’t enough, one of the letters had pictures in it, three pictures of you! As I have said before, pictures of you make me shiver and shake. I’m coming home this August. Rather than have me stay for a few months over my contract, Max [Steineke, chief geologist] says they would rather have me go home this summer and come back with you on a second contract…. Further, Max says we can come back together across the Pacific. Many of the men coming back have been sent across the Atlantic while their wives come across the Pacific. Anyway…it seems I am in good favor with the company and they want me back again…. It sure is our red-letter year…. If God wills, the war will be over by the time we are ready to return, and we can make a leisurely sort of trip across the Pacific.

March 30, 1940 Bismarck It is just not possible for me to keep my mind on anything but summer and you. I intend to go to Medora [North Dakota] and rest for two months, then you shall have no rest for the remainder of your life—isn’t that simply awful to look forward to?

June 29, 1940 Dhahran Don’t ask me how I am coming home. No one knows...but I shall come home to you as soon as I can. Boat service in the…Gulf has been cut down, at least temporarily [due to World War II] to one slow boat a week…. Top: Out in the Blue, the letters between Tom and Kathleen There is also some doubt as to whether we will be com- Barger from 1937-40, in part tells the love story represented ing back at all. It depends on the war. The company may cut by the cape she wore to San Francisco for their 1940 reunion. Above: The couple posed happily at a ranch in North Dakota exploration to a minimum, so that they won’t need many geolo- in September 1937, two months before they secretly married gists…. We shall see….” and three months before he departed for Saudi Arabia.

That’s the last letter in Out in the Blue, but the book included When the Italian bombing of Dhahran in October 1940 put off Tom Barger’s recollections of his trip home to the United States the couple’s plans to return there together, he wrote: “I had no on a 62-day vacation (after nearly three years in Saudi Arabia, intention of leaving Kathleen again, so at the end of vacation, during which he took a couple of local vacations) in which he we returned to San Francisco” where he looked for another job, mentions his reunion with Kathleen in San Francisco and their “but the market was still poor and I found no decent prospects.” return to her parents’ home in Medora. The couple lived in San Francisco for a while after that. Tom FROM TOP: COURTESY AMELIA BROWN; IN OUT THE BLUE

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97210araD6R1.indd 16 4/13/20 7:13 PM did jobs for J.O. “Doc” Nomland, a senior geologist at Standard Oil of California (Socal), “and tried to either obtain permission to take my wife to Arabia or be reassigned to another country where she could accompany me. Both efforts were in vain.” “Finally,” he wrote, “Doc Nomland ran out of jobs for me to do…and I had to make a decision.” He decided to return to his job at the California Arabian Standard Oil Company, Socal’s Saudi subsidiary, alone. The Bargers delayed their second separation for as long as possible. They sailed to Hawaii, and the day after they arrived, on March 7, 1941, Tom caught a boat heading west and Kathleen returned to the United States. However difficult that must have been for her, she probably played a role key role in Tom’s decision to return to the kingdom. “Years later,” he wrote, “Kath told me that Max Steineke had taken her out to lunch [in San Francisco] and said, ‘Kathleen, you just have to let Tom go back to Arabia…. It’s going to be a big operation, and someday he’s going to run the whole thing. You’ve just got to let him go back.’” A letter from Dhahran to company headquarters in San Francisco on Nov. 2, 1940, further explained Steineke’s plea to Kathleen, and presaged her future move to Dhahran. Floyd Ohliger, resident manager in Dhahran, called Barger “an outstanding man, desirous of, or willing to make foreign geologi- cal work a career.” Circumstances prohibited Barger from bring- ing Kathleen to Dhahran in 1940, Ohliger wrote. But he added, “We do plan a house for him and his wife can be brought out as soon as our policy concerning families is changed.” Prophetic Dreams

When she was just nine years old, Kathleen Barger wrote around 1970, she would settle into a scuffed brown-leather rocking chair in her home in North Dakota, where she “de- voured” travel books by John L. Stoddard. “I decided that I must see the Taj Mahal, visit Venice and that I would live in Arabia,” she wrote. “I called these my prophetic dreams, for dreams they were, but I knew they would happen.” Her second such dream dawned at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks when she noisily entered a room wear- ing a device on her foot to help heal an infection, drawing the OUT INOUT THE BLUE attention of everyone, including a young man whose “amused, dancing, brown eyes” moved her to sit beside him. “When I looked at him, I wanted to laugh out loud,” she wrote. “I suddenly knew that this was the man I was going to marry…. It was as easy as that.” It turned out that the man with the “dancing eyes” was Tom Barger, a 26-year-old professor at the university’s School of Mining, “who was sent to make all my dreams come true.” In fact, realizing those dreams took more than she’d imagined. Tom’s parents opposed the union, so they married secretly in November 1937 and traveled to New York, where From top: Tom Barger (right) appears with fellow geologist Tom boarded a ship for his first journey to Saudi Arabia and Johnny Thomas in this 1939 photo from Jabrin in the Rub‘ al- Kathleen sat lonely in their hotel room before starting home. Khali; Barger and a Bedouin tracker study an ancient tomb It took until 1945 for Kathleen finally to fulfill her dream to at Jabrin in 1940; the young Bargers made a dashing couple; Kathleen and her children (l-r) Annie, Michael and Tim posed “live in Arabia,” where she and Tom led a rich life for nearly a for this picture around 1948. quarter century. TOP (2), CENTER RIGHT AND BOTTOM: TC BARGER COLLECTION; CENTER LEFT:

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97210araD6R1.indd 17 4/7/20 8:34 PM Artists perform “The Great Journey” at the Royal Opera House Muscat in 2017. The opera house, which offers performances in Western classical and Arab music, is part REMEMBERING of the cultural legacy of Sultan Qaboos. Sultan BY EDWARD FOX Qaboos When I worked for Aramco in Dhahran many years ago, I used my free time to travel around the region as much as I could. I had an amateur’s love of the history and geography of Arabia, and a few Arabic verbs were still rattling around in my head from graduate school (this made me the peer of Philby and Gertrude Bell!). ‡ Thanks to my job in the Public Relations Dept., I was able to travel to interesting sites in the kingdom where Saudi Aramco was active. But when my time was my own an exit visa was required. In the spring of 1989, when ‘Id al-Fitr meant a weeklong break from work, I decided to go to Oman. ‡ I mention this now in recollection of Sultan Qaboos ibn Said Al Said, who died Jan. 10, 2020, after a reign of 50 years.

There is a difference between ruling and with colorful headgear. equal, to offer courtesies or request his reigning. Reigning is something only a Sultan Qaboos had a style of his own. intervention. king can do. It includes ruling but adds His influence, though substantial, was At this time Shaikh ‘Isa ibn Salman a mysterious extra element: some combi- subtle. Al Khalifa, the amir of Bahrain, held nation of personality, charisma, culture I’d read in a newspaper that on the a weekly majlis which anyone could and visual splendor as an instrument of occasion of the ‘id Sultan Qaboos would attend; I had been to one of those. But rule. Qaboos did not just rule in Oman: greet well-wishers at his palace in the Sultan Qaboos added an element of He reigned. capital, Muscat. In doing so, he was grandeur to such proceedings. Anyone who visited Oman—as many observing the Arabian tradition in which Very early on the Friday morning of Aramcons have done—will tell you the ruler makes himself personally acces- the ‘id, with the temperature already as that the country has a style making it sible to his people. This was the tradi- high as you can imagine, I joined the unlike other countries in Arabia. Oman- tion of the majlis, in which any man, queue at al-‘Alam Palace in old Muscat is dressed differently, for example, in whatever his station, could approach to offer my good wishes for the holiday clothing of various pastel shades and the ruler—for a moment at least—as an to Sultan Qaboos. I was possibly the MOHAMMED MAHJOUB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

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97210araD7R1.indd 18 4/13/20 7:17 PM only non-Muslim in the line; but I was sultan’s personal interests. Accordingly, Symphony Orchestra. When that show certainly not the only non-Omani, for the Dept. of Traditional Music assigned closed, performances of Rossini’s comic a cross-section of the country’s diverse a man named Salah to travel around the opera “L’inganna Felice” (The Fortunate population was there. I was wearing, as country with me in my rented car. He Deception) followed. I recall, a sensible Brooks Brothers seer- was a drummer and knew practically There are countless further examples, sucker suit. everyone who played folk/traditional great and small, of how Qaboos’s per- The event took place with the kind music in Oman. sonal taste was reflected in government of efficiency that’s so smooth you barely I know what you’re thinking: That policy and in the style of modern Oman. notice it. The queue steadily advanced sounds like fun. You’re right; it was. One was the program to restore the toward the front of the palace—a curi- The recordings that the drummer Salah country’s nobly proportioned, mudbrick ous composition of blue and yellow helped me to make are now in the British Ottoman-era forts, an undertaking that columns with a flat roof looking out at Library. stands as a model for cultural-heritage the sparkling water of a compact bay. One thing that people outside Oman preservation in the region. On a smaller Eventually, we entered a high-ceilinged tend to know about Qaboos is that he scale, I recall hearing on my trip to hall at the end of which Sultan Qaboos loved Western classical music. This Oman in 1990 that Sultan Qaboos had sat to receive his visitors. interest took root during years he spent decreed that air conditioners had to be My turn came and I approached. as a young man in England, educated enclosed in wooden boxes to conceal I made a kind of bow and said, “‘Id by a private tutor in Suffolk, before he their ugliness. sa’id wa mubarak” (Happy and blessed enrolled at the British military academy, Finally, I’d like to give an illustration holiday). I took his soft hand, which Sandhurst. of Sultan Qaboos’s style of kingship remained on his lap. The merest When he became sultan he turned that has an Aramco connection. I was twitch of his cheek suggested a smile. this enthusiasm into policy: He made lucky enough, during that same trip in “Shukran,” he replied. scholarships available to talented young 1990, to meet a couple of distinguished I went back to Oman for a longer Omanis to study music abroad, and in Americans who played an important role visit about a year later (no longer an 2011 the Royal Opera House Muscat in the development of Oman in the early Aramcon by then). I wrote about these (ROHM) opened to offer performances years of Sultan Qaboos’s reign. trips in a chapter on Oman in my book of Western classical and Arab music. Dr. Donald Bosch and his wife Elo- Obscure Kingdoms, about traditions of In February, for example, ROHM ise went to Oman in 1955, when the kingship in non-Western countries, pub- hosted the world premiere of “Tarh El country was governed by Qaboos’s lished in 1994. Bahr” (The Sea Treasures), a produc- father, Sultan Said ibn Taimur. They On this trip to Oman I had a specific tion about the life and adventures of a brought along their three children, assignment, which I mention because it fisherman in a coastal Arab community, one of whom—David—went on to a illustrates how the personality of Sultan with the music by the Royal Oman career in Aramco’s Government Affairs Qaboos radiated from him in the form of policy. I bore a letter of introduction from the head of the Traditional Music Collection of the National Sound Archive of the British Library, and formidably professional recording equipment it had lent me. With the help of the Omani Embassy in London, I contacted the Dept. of Traditional Music at the Oman Ministry of Informa- tion—which assisted me in a project to make recordings of tradi- tional music in Oman. I got support in this undertaking because A rare display of an oversized portrait the encouragement and of Sultan Qaboos took place at a naval promotion of music in pageant in Muscat harbor celebrating Oman was one of the National Day in November 1990. EDWARD FOX

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97210araD7R1.indd 19 4/14/20 8:10 AM that changes sex halfway through its life. I confess that I was only reminded of this after looking at my notebooks from the time, but I do remember exquisite examples of seashells on display in their seaside home. David Bosch probably has as deep an appreciation of Oman and the late sul- tan as any Aramcon because of his fam- ily’s long ties to the country. He worked in Dhahran when I was there and later directed the Washington, D.C., office of Aramco Services Company. A khanjar Dr. Bosch died in 2012 at the age of sculpture in a 95 and Eloise Bosch died in 2016. David, traffic roundabout in Nizwa in Oman’s now retired himself, and his wife Leslie interior reflects spend part of the year in the family’s the broad impact home in Oman. of Sultan Qaboos’s David expressed his sadness and con- cultural policy. cern about the death of Sultan Qaboos. The late sultan “is widely seen as the father of the country,” he said, adding organization and has kept his family’s Sea at Haramel, near Muscat, in rec- that “the succession of Sultan Haitham close connection to the sultanate. ognition of the Bosches’ many years of ibn Tariq was very well handled and the Donald Bosch served as a surgeon in service to the people of Oman. new ruler has broad support.” the American Mission Hospital in Mut- Along with doctoring, Donald Bosch Sultan Qaboos left a profound impri- trah and his wife taught at the American devoted himself to scholarship in the matur on Oman, one reflected best in Mission School in nearby Muscat. He field of the conchology of Oman. He his vast cultural, rather than expressly later became chief medical officer at and Eloise, aided by their children and personal, legacy. Khoula Hospital in Muscat, the first sur- grandchildren, identified more than 20 Indeed, when I made my first visit to gical hospital in the country. new species of seashells, a number of Oman more than 30 years ago it was Upon Dr. Bosch’s retirement in 1982, which bear their names. only after a good amount of hunting in Sultan Qaboos gave the couple Omani I attended a talk Dr. Bosch gave at the the markets of Muscat and Muttrah that citizenship and awarded him the Order Officers Club at Petroleum Development I succeeded in finding a set of six Arabic of Oman, the country’s highest civilian Oman, the national oil company. There coffee cups with Qaboos’s portrait on honor. He also built a beautiful house he described, among other things, a spe- them. I still have them, and they are not for the family overlooking the Arabian cies of oyster found only in Omani waters for sale.

Rustaq Fort is a fine example of Oman’s effort to restore its nobly proportioned mudbrick castles dating to the Ottoman era. CHARLES O. CECIL/CECIL IMAGES (2) IMAGES CECIL/CECIL O. CHARLES

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97210araD7R1.indd 20 4/7/20 8:35 PM Former Chief Photographer Shaikh Amin reprised one of his favorite subjects—the Sacred Mosque in Makkah— PERIPATETIC to capture his most recent international photo award. His picture, “House of God,” won the bronze medal in PHOTOGRAPHER the “People and Portrait” category last year at the First International Exhibition of Photography of the \\\ WINS /// Digital Camera Club of America (DCCA).

Amin, 92, also changed pace in 2019: After fulfilling a pledge to NEW PRIZE attend Photo Society of America conferences for 25 straight years in 2018, the peripatetic photographer flew east rather than west to visit his granddaughter and her family in Australia and compiled

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97210araD8R1.indd 21 4/13/20 7:20 PM a new portfolio in the process. daughter and parents to Makkah for the a gold medal for the image at the second Amin shot the prizewinning DCCA first time. Then he climbed some 300 steps Pakistan International Color Slide Exhibi- photo when he performed ‘Umrah (the to the top of the minaret for the shot. tion and it appeared as the cover image for lesser pilgrimage) in Makkah after attend- “At the risk of my life, I was hugging the his book The Holy Journey to Mecca, pub- ing the KSA Expatriates Reunion in March pillar with the left arm and using my cam- lished in 1976. 2015, during a period of heavy construction era with the right hand, holding the camera Amin flew east to Australia last fall, around the Sacred Mosque. with the pillar to avoid movement for a time taking up an invitation to visit his grand- “I cleaned and removed the construction exposure,” he said. daughter Maryam Nasir and her family equipment from the top using Photoshop,” “Two pilgrims helped to hold my back in a Sydney suburb. She is the daughter of he said. “The colorful dresses of ladies in tight from falling to avoid any slip or mis- Amin’s daughter Farhat. the foreground caught my attention, which hap as there was no support on the stair- He traveled to Australia before wildfires resulted in the bronze medal award.” steps. Any slip…would have ended the story charred huge areas across the country. The Amin joined Aramco in 1948, became forever! locale where his granddaughter lives a member of the Photo Unit in 1965 and “Luckily, due to my strong determina- escaped the blazes. retired to Islamabad in 1985, returning to tion and will, everything went smooth and I “This was my first-ever visit to Aus- the kingdom to shoot special assignments finished my shooting in three to five minutes tralia,” Amin said. “I was fully dependent for a decade after that. He continues to take and landed down safely and thanked my on my granddaughter’s family, unlike in pictures and compete in photo shows today. strong helpers…. the USA or Canada where I know places, He has won more than 70 medals in a “We were lucky to stay around. It was friends and families.” variety of national and international exhi- not possible to come up again due to police He spent most of his time in and around bitions, along with three United Nations restrictions.” Sydney, with a daylong trip to Canberra, awards. The photo appeared in Aramco World the capital. “Luckily, on that day Canberra He shot his most memorable photo of and Oil Caravan Weekly and was displayed was celebrating an annual tulip festival, the Sacred Mosque in 1967 while clinging as a mural in the lobby of the Dhahran which I enjoyed very much and took a lot of to the top of one of its twin 165-foot mina- International Airport during the Hajj photos,” he said. rets at night. That year he took his wife, period in 1971. That same year Amin won Below are some highlights of his visit.

Previous page: Shaikh Amin’s prizewinning photo of the Sacred Mosque in Makkah, shot in 2015, and the photographer with his trove of honors. Opposite: Amin’s “most memorable” photo of the Sacred Mosque, which he shot clinging to the top of a 165-foot minaret in 1967. Below, counterclockwise from bottom left: A street artist works in Sydney; Shaikh Amin poses with his granddaughter Maryam Nasir near her home in a Sydney suburb; tulips figured prominently in Canberra’s annual Floriade; the Three Sisters area of the Blue Mountains, an hour’s drive west of Sydney; water flows down worn rock in the Blue Mountains; a ferry chugs under Sydney Harbour bridge.

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97210araD8R1.indd 22 4/13/20 7:25 PM 23

97210araD8R1.indd 23 4/7/20 8:38 PM G TO L IN OOK NN L GI I E K B E

B . Y J .D OD , PH IE CASTELLANI

MyM mom, Etta Teague, a country girl from Greene County,C Tenn., thought she’d madem it “big” when she movedmo to Knoxville, Tenn., atat age 16 during World War II.II. She soon found herself workingwo in nearby Oak Ridge, thethe “Secret City” of the ManhattanMan Project, where thethe atomic bomb was made.

SheSShe mmete Joe “Rog” Sutton at Oak Ridge and they mammarriedarrrriee in 1948. He joined Aramco in Ras Tanura ini 119669666 as a mechanical-craft-specialist instructor anaandnd MMomo and I traveled there in January 1967. Dad reretiredetitirer d fromf Abqaiq Plants Maintenance in 1984. MyM fatherf died in 1989 and my mother died in 2022015.01515. DealingDe with parents’ belongings after they pappasssss onon isi an ordeal I don’t wish on anyone. However, theretht ere havehavav been a few bright spots, and a surprise find—myfinfind——mym mother’s 1967 diary—was one. HeHHerr eentriesn are brief and the journal covers just foffoururr mmonths.onon It starts out with last-minute prepa- rarrationstiiono s toto move from Tennessee to Saudi Arabia anaandd concludescono c on April 11: “Beginning to look like hohome.”omee.”.

Etta Sutton’s 1967 diary, with entries from January to April (from Tennessee to Ras Tanura) tells a remarkable adventure story for a “country girl from Greene County…who’d rarely ventured beyond the Tennessee-Florida corridor,” says her daughter Jodie Castellani.

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97210araD9R1.indd 24 4/7/20 8:42 PM While there are many ac- here are some of her memo- counts of Aramco community ries of an extraordinary jour- life in the 1960s, this one is a bit ney in her own words. different as the focus isn’t on the memorable but the mundane. It’s JANUARY an insider’s view of “ordinary 1: [Sons] Leslie, Lynn life” in the days immediately [and] Jodie and I went prior to and after our move half- to church. Ate Ky. Fried way around the globe. Chicken and went back too The journal’s few pages are Central [Church in Oak priceless to me. Until reading Ridge] for last time tonite.e.e them I had known my mom at 2: All my family came downn that time only through a child’s to spend last day with us eyes, for I was only five when we before we leave for Ara- moved. I quickly learned that she bia. Lynn goes back to was entirely human, headache- Clarksville and Leslie backck prone and amazingly brave. to Johnson City. It was a My mom had rarely ventured lonely nite for Jodie and beyond the Tennessee-Florida myself, but lots of work too corridor, and she had never do must go on. traveled by air, before moving 3: Finished sorting and pack-k- to Saudi Arabia. And yet, three ing things for our trip. years after I was adopted, she Everything is upside downn packed us up, got us on the plane and a lot yet to do. [Brother-heer-- and flew far from everything and in-law] Joe Daily called everyone she had ever known. and says he has a buyer foror It was the start of a new the Plymouth, but…I can chapter in our lives, to be sure, keep it until Sat. when I but it ended up being far more go to Greeneville. Jodie iss than that. Her decision—which excited about seeing Daddydyd began with this long trip— but hates to leave her catss transformed my entire family’s behind. trajectory in ways we wouldn’t 4: I awoke with a migraine fully know or appreciate for headache…and the moversrs years to come. are supposed to be here too Once in Ras Tanura, Mom pack tomorrow. Polly Var-r- easily adapted to expatriate life, nadore called and wants me primarily because she was so to go to dinner Thurs. nitete extroverted. Her social talents at Park Hotel with girls fromrom were well-oiled from years of church. Have to go to bedd modeling, sororities and honing early my head is popping. her hospitality skills with her Called Momma Teague. She friends. will call in morning to see if My dad signed on with a two- I’m better. year contract, promising Mom 5: I didn’t sleep at all last nite that time would pass quickly, so sick with headache…. yet they ended up staying close Packers will be here at 8 to two decades. That speaks vol- a.m. Momma Teague called umes about how much she loved and said she will be down it there. to help…. We have hardly Although I wish she had con- eaten all day. I didn’t go out tinued her journal, I am grateful with girls and Polly, Shirley, she wrote and preserved the few Nita, Lois, & Christie came pages she did. It showed me, by with gift at 10:30. I have many decades later, how a small- to take Momma & Jodie to town family ended up moving McDonalds for hamburgers. halfway across the planet and They are starving. making another small town, 6: …Feeling some better. which just happened to be in Errands to run. Go to Oak Etta Teague takes a break from work Oak Ridge, Tenn., eastern Saudi Arabia, “home.” Ridge and don’t get back site of the Manhattan Project, where she met her husband Here’s to Mom: world trav- until 6:30. Loaders still Joe “Rog” Sutton. They married in 1948. He joined Aramco in Ras Tanura in 1966 and in 1967 she traveled eler, small-town socialite and there. Momma & Jodie with her five-year-old daughter to join him. explorer extraordinaire...and holding down fort. We

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97210araD9R1.indd 25 4/13/20 7:26 PM Left: Etta Sutton poses with Jodie in front of their first house in Ras Tanura around 1968. Right: Jodie reenacts the Brownie pledge for the camera. “I was extremely then play shuffleboard & billiards…. sincere and passionate about being a Brownie!” she says. We came home about 10 p.m. Jodie has hardly eaten a bite in over a week and looks as if she has lost 10 lbs. She goes finally get rid of movers [at] 7:30.… Paris at 3 a.m. our time. It is Tuesday at to sleep real fast. Momma takes bath sewer runs over 8 a.m.…in Paris. 12: We sleep late again. The weather is so I don’t get one. …Get to bed about 10: Jodie wakes up after 1 hr. sleep and beautiful but I have been burning up, 12:30…. we leave Paris on to Rome on to Cairo leaving 20° weather to come to 70°. 7: Pouring down rain. …Momma got and arrive Dhahran at 9:15 p.m. TWA We still have sewer problems. Have her hair fixed [in Greenville] and Jodie employee helps with luggage and we used all the towels catching water. We & I looked for a pair of shoes. Picked go thru Customs and see Rog standing are all invited to Claboughs for dinner Momma up and on to the house to fix at top of steps. I think Jodie is happy tonite.… I still am turned around in my supper. Went to bed early my head still for the first time in two months. We directions when I go out of house. hurts. lose one piece of luggage, but finally 13: We wake up at 1 p.m.… The Hicks 8: … [Brother] Billie took luggage to find it. Rog has Tom [Clabough]’s sta- came by & wonder where we have weigh—about 10 lbs. overweight. [Sis- tion wagon and off we go for the first been. We decided to go home [to ter] Jacky repacks and I end up with time to Ras Tanura. Arrive there about Abqaiq] with them and ride bus back. 131 lbs. Leslie came down after church 11:30 p.m. Jodie gets bath and we put We borrow their vacuum cleaner and tonite and took Jodie to town for a her to bed and then we talked until 3 clothes hangers, go eat a bite, and catch milkshake & hamburger. We all went a.m. We go to bed and…really sleepy. the 10 p.m. bus. Change buses at Dhah- to bed as have to get up early. The house looks nicer than I thought it ran and the driver goes to sleep and the 9: Get up at 6 a.m. Leslie, Jodie & I left would. Rog has done good job. fog is so thick you can hardly cut it. We Greeneville about 8 a.m. … Left on 11: We slept until 11 a.m. Rog has a five- sure don’t get sleepy we are too scared. plane for N.Y. at 2 p.m., arr. at Newark day [‘Id al-Adha] holiday. The Wards Finally make it home & to bed. We at 3 p.m. Carried all that luggage miles [Roger and Peggy] & Hicks [Charlie won’t ride the late bus again. thru terminal and caught helicopter to and Mary Lynn] are spending it down 14: Still sewer problems. The holiday crew Kennedy at 4:25. Arrived at Kennedy, here. They came by to say hello and in is working…. We go to pool for a little treated royally and waited there until meantime…the bathroom floods and while then we clean house & finish 7:30 when we boarded TWA for Ara- Rog calls plumbers. We go up to eat unpacking. This looks and feels like bia. Weather rough so we go over Lon- at Snack Bar and then to pool where Fla. We are still eating out as the com- don. Jodie finally goes to sleep at 2 a.m. I [meet] Helen & Tom Clabough. We missary is closed until Sun. I am tired but can’t sleep. We arrive in go out to eat dinner with the group, 15: Rog has to go back to work but he goes

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97210araD9R1.indd 26 4/7/20 8:42 PM Above: Etta Sutton multitasks in the kitchen of the family’s second Abqaiq house in the early 1980s. “Polishing brass was an ongoing and thankless job,” says her daughter. “She spent hours and hours talking her to friends, so that long cord was important.” Right: The Suttons cut cakes at a FEBRUARY “double” retirement” in 1984. He was working at feeling too well but is about ready to Abqaiq Plants Maintenance and “she was probably 24: Had a horrible headache leave for the States. She is going to doc. working for Personal Effects at the Abqaiq Mall at this a.m. Rog had to go in morn at Dhahran. that time,” Jodie says. to Clinic to get medicine 12: Norma Branch and two girls, Pam & for me. …Jodie had Beth, came over. Brought brownies. infected eye and stayed They are from S.C. Her husband [Ray] by school to enroll Jodie. She…will with me. Rog & Jodie went to golf is an engineer and [they have] been start to school tomorrow morning. course to watch Roger Ward play. Peggy here since Aug. Jodie surprised them by 16: Jodie goes to kindergarten at 8:30… came by here but I was passed out and reading all the books to them. and I have a carpenter fixing my didn’t hear her. 13: Snook & Charlie didn’t leave. Will get kitchen countertop. The sewer is still their shipment back & stay…. Suppos- plugged. They decide to give us a new MARCH edly, Charlie got a big raise. toilet & basin and work on bathtub…. 8: The School had open house tonite. Jodie 17: …Jodie loves school and is eating bet- is real excited. The kindergarten will APRIL ter. We go to the commissary when sing Do-Rey-Mi [from “The Sound of 10: Jodie & I took a walk on beach and Rog comes home from work. The Music”]. The program was real good. as we came back saw the van parked prices are cheaper than they were at They sure have a good music director at at house with furniture shipment: 53 home. Some items might be more, the school. After the program we went crates 11,000.00 lbs. [We] worked until but it doesn’t even out…. to Jodie’s room then came home and 8:30 uncrating and carrying in. What a 18: … Mrs. Young who gave us some watched the Clay-Liston fight on TV. mess! Rog had to call a basketball game dishes came by to visit. She has two 10: Went with Helen & Tom to Abqaiq to so I put up the beds and got some lin- small children. Tomorrow the weekend tell Snook [Mary Lynn Hicks] & boys ens on them. We finally went to bed at starts. We are invited to [the] Goughs goodbye. The Wards & Balls [Opal and 1:30. Looks worse than at 8. Can’t even for Mexican dinner tonite. We all loved Curly] were there too. We ate lunch out walk for boxes and the yard appears as the food. Will have to learn to cook it. then made two freezers of ice cream. if we were building a new house. Jodie really ate a good meal. Helen and Tom gave their dog away. 11: Worked all day. … Beginning to look 19: Rog and I mopped and cleaned the Helen was sad all the way home. We like home. whole house. Am beginning to feel at arrived home home now. The weather has been a about 8:30 and little cooler this week. Rog was called Rog went to in to work. First overtime he has had. get hamburgers 20: …Rog had to work so I went with while I bathed Helen then we had lunch at Surf House Jodie. and Jodie and I were by ourselves until 11: Snook called to Rog came home to dinner. say she is not

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97210araD9R1.indd 27 4/7/20 8:42 PM Brat Recounts California

ESCAPE

BYBY MMIKEIKE KELLERKELLER (AB69)(AB69)

When the world’s eyes turned to the awful scenes of large swathes of Australia burning under sky- high temperatures and brutal winds this winter, we could relate in northern California—where my wife Christina and I escaped a wildfire in the fall.

We live in Windsor in Sonoma Windsor, on Oct. 8. County, about 60 miles north Tragically, she died two of San Francisco, and we’ve days later, and the Dell’Oro faced two blazes in recent family home with all its Mid- years. dle Eastern heirlooms was lost In early October 2017 we in the flames. experienced the Tubbs fire, Nothing, not even the blis- then the most destructive in tering heat of Saudi Arabia California history. It was one where my grandfather, Clem- of more than a dozen large ent Gibbs, arrived in 1944 wildfires that erupted and to work as a machinist at burned simultaneously in eight Aramco, can prepare you for northern California counties. a wildfire. By the time it was con- My mom Gloria and my tained Oct. 31 the Tubbs fire grandmother Marie joined had blackened nearly 37,000 him in Abqaiq in August acres, destroyed 5,643 struc- 1947. My dad Elwood tures and killed at least 22 “Woody” Keller arrived in people in Sonoma County. Abqaiq that December to ser- Jean Dell’Oro, an Aram- vice drilling rigs. con whose ties with the As luck would have it, he company stretched back to met Gloria, they dated and 1947, about as far as my fam- married in 1950. I was born in ily’s roots in the kingdom, Dhahran in 1954 and my sis- had to flee her home in Santa ter Andrea arrived four years Rosa, about 10 miles south of after that.

Above: Mike Keller’s wife Christina and the family’s dog Lando sheltered with him in a studio apartment in Santa Rosa, Calif., after they were chased from their home in Windsor, 10 miles to the north, by a wildfire Oct. 26. Right: Mike Keller, his sister An- drea and their mother Gloria took advantage of a trip to Abqaiq, their old hometown, during the 2009 Expatriates Reunion to meet Sa’ad al-Shammari, whose father, driller Hamid al-Shammari,

had worked with the head of the family, Elwood “Woody” Keller. TOP: MIKE KELLER; LOWER: ARTHUR CLARK

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97210araD10R1.indd 28 4/7/20 8:43 PM The heat of the desert that we experi- enced as kids can be deadly, for sure. But it’s always there in the summer—and you can survive with enough water and the right shelter. A wildfire’s different: Its skips and jumps depending on the wind, lighting new blazes here and there, and no shelter can protect you from a roaring fire. I know that because I’m a builder and I’ve seen too many houses turned to ashes in recent years. Almost exactly two years after the Tubbs fire, on Oct. 23, a similar event seemed to be looming. My wife and I had just gone to bed when we heard a loud banging on our door and our neighbor shouting: “There’s a fire coming our way and I’m leaving! You might want to con- sider doing the same!” The Kincade fire had started about 15 miles northeast of us and it was being fanned by 70-mile-per-hour winds. Could this really be happening—again? The fire burned the next two days in largely rural northern Sonoma County. By Oct. 25 it was heading in a more southerly direction toward Windsor. On Oct. 26 Windsor received manda- tory evacuation orders. We packed our cars with essentials and joined the exodus of tens of thousands of people getting onto the freeway and heading south for safety. The evacuation order was later ex- tended to include parts of Sonoma County westward to the coast, impact- ing close to 200,000 people. We found refuge in a studio apartment I had just remodeled in Santa Rosa and set up camp to wait it out. Late the morning of Oct. 27 more than 200 firefighters with dozens of pieces of equipment joined a nearly overwhelming battle to stop the blaze from overtaking the town, let alone jumping nearby High- way 101 and burning a trail of destruction all the way to the coast. All we could do was wait. Then, on Oct. 30, we got the “all-clear” —and returned to find our house still From top: The Kincade fire that started Oct. 23 burned down 374 buildings in Sonoma standing. The firefighters had prevailed, County, but those in Mike Keller’s hometown of Windsor were saved by the heroic work of protecting every single home in our town 200 firefighters the morning of Oct. 27. Roadblocks stopped local residents from returning until the fire was out. Flags flying along smoky county roads stood out during the blaze. of 27,000 people and substantially curbing the fire’s spread. The sky was gray, the air smelled of in any fatalities. I know that careful construction and smoke and soot, and ash covered our yard. As a carpenter and builder I know an emphasis on fire resilience can put We had electricity, but no gas for three that my fellow residents, the construc- homes in a better position to withstand the more days. Life slowly started to return to tion industry and I need to look at design onslaught of a blaze. normal as residents trickled back. features and materials that homes of the I know that we were lucky last fall. The Kincade fire was 100 percent future likely will need as wildfires become And I know that I’d take the 115° heat contained by Nov. 6. It had burned an even more “normal” part of our col- of a “pleasant” Abqaiq summer to the nearly 80,000 acres and destroyed 374 lective reality due to climate change and smell of smoke and the fear that a wildfire

KAREN HANCOCK, SONOMA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE (3) buildings, but remarkably did not result other, naturally occurring, factors. stokes any day of the week.

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97210araD10R1.indd 29 4/7/20 8:43 PM from Colorado. “Colorado Springs has a lot to offer.” CONSIDER YOURSELF... Seven months out from the hafla (fam- ily party), it looked like attendance would exceed 300. At the end of March about 260 people had registered to stay at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort, the reunion venue, and around 20 attendees planned to stay else- where, Palmer said. There is dining and dancing space for as many as 450 guests, but the number of hotel rooms is limited. Registration for the reunion is open until Sept. 15. Instructions may be found Reunions in Colorado Springs in 2020 at www.aramcoexpats.com under “2020 and Norwich, England, in 2021 Aramco Hafla Annuitants Reunion.” The same site has instructions for making reservations at the resort. It also contains the reunion agenda and a list of the current registrants, and sign-up sheets for tours. “The reunion requires an army of vol- unteers,” said co-host Doreen Cumberford. “Consider this an invitation to volunteer and contribute a bit of time and energy to making this a big success for everyone.” Volunteers for decoration teams, graph- ics and printing, and gift bag teams are needed the most. Anyone interested in vol- unteering at the reunion, and anyone with questions about the event, may contact the hosts at hafl[email protected]. Work to mount a memorable 32nd biennial Annuitants Reunion from Sept. The reunion “officially” opens with a 26-30 in Colorado Springs, Colo., continued apace when we went to press, barbecue-buffet dinner and dance Sunday, Sept. 27, but so many people have signed as reunion hosts John Palmer and Doreen Cumberford and Doug and Eliza- up to stay Saturday night there will be an beth Cook kept a watchful eye on the developing COVID-19 situation. opening reception that evening. The hafla includes three dinner/dances. Those Sunday and Tuesday will be out- Meanwhile, the biennial UKaramcons America this year. doors, with sunset views of Pikes Peak. Reunion, planned for Norwich in early “See for yourself why this historic city The traditional gala dinner sponsored by October, has been postponed for a year embodies so much of Colorado’s incompa- Aramco Americas will be Monday, with a due to the pandemic. rable spirit,” the report said. “Change your speaker who will talk about the company “All of us on the organizing team are state of mind.” and the kingdom. concerned that the reunion in Colorado “We’re happy that the Times has dis- “The committee has arranged great Springs may need to be canceled or post- covered us,” said the hosts, who all hail entertainment for each night, including the poned if the government Coronavirus restrictions are still in place,” Palmer said late in March. “If we need to cancel this Quail Terrace at the Cheyenne Mountain year’s event we will do so with at least Resort, the Annuitant’s Reunion venue, offers prime views of the Rocky Mountains. one month’s notice, and we will refund everyone’s money in full—no cancellation charge—and the hotel will also refund any money you have paid in full.” He urged anyone planning to attend “not to cancel at this time, since the situa- tion may improve.” The hosts hope annuitants and fam- ily members will be able to discover what the New York Times reported in January under the headline, “The secret is out about Colorado.” It called Colorado Springs one of the 52 “top places to go” in

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97210araD11R1.indd 30 4/13/20 7:30 PM Flatiron Jazz Orchestra, the best big band in Colorado, on Monday, complete with danc- ing instructors to lead us in swing dancing,” said Palmer. Tours will take place Sun- day, Monday and Tuesday. They will go to the top of Pikes Peak; to Cripple Creek, the site of a 19th-century gold-mining town; and to Garden of the Gods with its beautiful natural rock for- mations, and the Air Force Academy. Co-host Doug Cook, Diners will have a scenic a geologist, will lead two backdrop for evening events special geological tours of Sept. 27 and Sept. 29. Garden of the Gods and other rock formations around Colo- rado Springs on Monday and Tuesday. A doubles tennis tourna- ment is slated Sunday, a golf tournament Monday and a pickleball game Tuesday. A bridge tournament will take place Monday afternoon. Colorado Springs is “home to more than 55 unique things to see and do. Enjoy stunning natural scenery, endless blue skies and exciting choices for outdoor adventure,” said the Times. Reunion-goers arriving late in the afternoon will find this The hafla hosts second picture-postcard greeting at that, and they urge you to find the Cheyenne Mountain Resort. out for yourselves.

The biannual UKaramcons Reunion, scheduled for Oct. 2-4 in Norwich, has been postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Host Maggie Creswell said March 28 that the eighth UKaramcons Reunion had been moved to the first weekend of October 2021 and that the reunion after that would take place in 2022. She said the venue for the delayed reunion would remain the Mercure Hotel in downtown Norwich. Activities for the 2021 reunion are expected include a Quiz Night and buffet supper, the Tom Henderson Memo- rial Golf Tournament, named in honor of the UKaramcons Reunion founder, and a dinner hosted by Aramco Europe. The placid River Wensum in Norwich, Anyone with questions may contact Creswell at where the rescheduled eighth UKaramcons Reunion will take place in [email protected]. 2021, boasts a lovely urban landscape. OPPOSITE AND TOP (2): COURTESY CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN RESORT; LOWER: CHRISTOPHE CAPPELLI/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

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97210araD11R1.indd 31 4/13/20 7:30 PM IN MEMORIAM

MERCEDES Dept. in 2004 and retired in 2014. typing teacher, secretary, art teacher, AMSTALDEN ABIB A talented musician, he played the crossing guard and bus monitor. guitar and performed in Dhahran Correspondence may be sent to December 1, 2019 and Bahrain—almost always dressed Richard at [email protected]. Predeceased by her husband, retiree in black. Survived by his wife Shirley Osmar Abib, and survived by her sons Gast and children Jean-Paul Brundage Osmar Jr. and Roberto. The family may MARY LYNN and Marisa and Shawn Gast. The be contacted c/o St. Anthony of Padua “SNOOK” HICKS family may be contacted c/o Starks Catholic Church, 7801 Bay Branch Dr., February 17, 2020 Menchinger Funeral Home, 2650 Niles The Woodlands, TX 77382. Survived by her husband, retiree Rd., St. Joseph, MI 49085. Charlie Hicks, and sons Doug and OTHEL “JACK” ALLEN, JR. Dave. Charlie may be contacted at JOHN “JACK” BUNTING 934 Westcourt Dr., Knoxville, TN December 14, 2019 December 9, 2019 37919 or [email protected]. He worked for the company as a He joined the New York office in petroleum engineer. Survived by his 1948, worked in Beirut for Tapline and daughter Terrie, who may be contacted CAROL LEE HUDSON in Dhahran from 1954-60, and for Air c/o Eisenhour Funeral Home, 2500 N March 29, 2020 Traffic at Aramco Services Company Council Ave., Blanchard, OK 73010. She joined Aramco in the early 1980s from 1976-87 and 1991-93, when he and taught at the Dhahran Schools for retired. ALBERT M. AMARA 27 years. Friends remembered her as “the driving force behind some great November 20, 2019 JOHN P. “C RIF” programs for the kindergarten, plus He joined the New York office Mail CRAWFORD a major part of the Dhahran Theatre Room in 1952, transferring to Manu- Group.” Survived by her sister Jo Anne facturing and Oil Supply and becom- December 2, 2019 Settles and brother Stanley. The family ing embargo coordinator in 1973. He He joined the company in 1972 and may be contacted c/o Weed Corley moved with the office to Houston in retired from Corporate Planning in Fish Funeral Homes, 411, Ranch Rd., 1975 and transferred to Crude Forecast- 1992. Survived by his wife Kate and 620 South, Lakeway TX. ing and Scheduling in Dhahran in 1990, children John, Laura and Lydia. He retiring in 1994. Survived by his wife was born in Beirut and he and his Laura and eight children. Correspon- family spent a year in Lebanon where MARY LOU KING dence may be sent to Laura at 18 Crazy he studied classical Arabic prior to February 10, 2020 Horse Court, Palm Coast, FL 32137. joining Standard Oil in New York Predeceased by her husband William, in 1970. Lydia may be contacted at whom she met while working for [email protected]. ANN LOUISE Shell in San Francisco and married in 1949. He joined Aramco’s New BILLINGS ANDERSON CHARLENE ANN DEEL York office and the family transferred March 7, 2020 to Saudi Arabia. Survived by her June 26, 2019 She joined Aramco as a secretary in daughters Nancy Cheeseman and Survived by her husband, retiree the early 1950s and met her husband Kathryn Bradley. Correspondence William Deel. He may be contacted at Conrad in Dhahran. Predeceased by may be sent to the family c/o Ply- Apt. 106, 900 Gross Rd., Kingsland, her husband and survived by children mouth Church, 126 Ingersoll Ave., GA 31458. Fritz and Amanda. The family may Des Moines, IA 50312. be contacted c/o Grace Memorial Episcopal Church,100 W. Church St., ANTHONY ESPOSITO JON MANDAVILLE Hammond, LA 70401. January 26, 2020 August 5, 2019 He worked for the Aviation Dept. from A 1952 graduate of the Najmah ILYAS ANWAR 1952-82. Survived by his daughters School, he joined Portland (OR) St. Linda, Susan and BJ. The family may September 15, 2018 University as a professor in 1965, be contacted c/o Wild Nature Center, A senior geophysicist specialist, directed its Middle East Studies Center 45 Vars Lane, Bradford, RI 02808. he worked in Croydon, England, from 1996-2004 and wrote about and Dhahran for nearly 20 years, Islamic and Middle Eastern history for retiring in 1994. Survived by his wife DELORES ANNE academic publications and Aramco Rubena who may be contacted at “DINAH” HERMAN World. Survived by his wife Diane, [email protected]. September 11, 2019 children Alison, Kate and Cristin, and Survived by her husband, retiree siblings Jim and Judy. Jim may be STEPHEN BRUNDAGE Richard Herman, and children Karen, contacted at 11688 N. Ribbonwood Dr., Oro Valley, AZ 85737. January 11, 2020 Donald and Susan. She worked at the He joined the Public Relations Najmah School as a teacher’s aide,

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97210araD12R1.indd 32 4/7/20 8:48 PM IN MEMORIAM

FRED MCCONNELL JAMES E. NORTHCUTT Kristina and Liz. Celeste may be contacted at [email protected]. August 28, 2019 February 6, 2020 He joined the company as a geologist He worked for the Aviation Dept. as in the late 1950s and departed five a flight engineer. Survived by his wife DONNA L. STEWART years later to earn an MBA, returning Charlotte and sons Mike, Steve, and January 21, 2020 in 1970 to work in the Treasurer’s Mark. The family may be contacted c/o Predeceased by her husband Doyle and organization. He retired as Credit Ebensberger-Fisher Funeral Home, 111 survived by sons Michael and Garry. and Collections supervisor in 1984. Rosewood Ave., Boerne, TX 78006. The family lived in Dhahran for six years Survived by his wife Asuncion and in the 1980s and ‘90s. Her children children Christopher and Bronnie. MARY PAPPAS may be contacted c/o First United Asuncion may be contacted at 9140 Methodist Church, 905 Glendale Ave., December 28, 2019 Periwinkle Loop NE, Lacey, WA 98516. South Charleston, WV 25303. Predeceased by her husband George, whom she met and married in Greece, ETHEL M. MCCOY her homeland, on his first vacation JANE K. STUDEBAKER February 1, 2020 from Aramco in 1953. The family spent January 24, 2020 Predeceased by her husband Arthur three decades with the company. Sur- She joined Aramco as a secretary in “Red” McCoy, who worked for vived by her children John, Margaret 1953. Predeceased by her husband Aramco from 1965-72. Survived and Irene. Irene may be contacted at John, whom she met in Dhahran and by her children Michael, Thomas [email protected]. married in 1955. She spent 31 years and Cathleen. The family may be with the company in the kingdom contacted c/o St. Mary’s Church, 130 JOHN HENRY REBOLD and the Netherlands. Survived by her South St., Wrentham, MA 02093. sons James, a Saudi Aramco retiree, December 3, 2019 and John and Mark. James may be He joined Aramco in Abqaiq in contacted at studebakerjw@yahoo. JOHN P. MCGOVERN 1958 as a reservoir and petroleum com. November 28, 2019 engineer and retired as executive He joined the New York office in assistant to the senior vice president, ALFRED E. 1952 and retired in 1994 as assis- Oil Operations, in 1981. Survived by tant treasurer, special assignment, his daughters Jeanette Rebold Rost “SULLY” SULLIVAN after serving in the Treasurer’s and Janis Rebold. Jeanette may be October 11, 2019 organization in Dhahran, New York contacted at [email protected]. He retired in 1992 after a 15-year and Houston. Survived by his wife career in food-service operations. Kathleen and children John, Thomas NANCY E. RUSHMER Survived by his wife Satu and children Hugh, M. Aelish Clifford, Owen and and Kathy. John may be contacted at July 21, 2019 Deirdre. The family may be contacted [email protected]. She joined the Industrial Relations c/o Barrancas National Cemetery, 1 Dept. in the early 1950s and met her Cemetery Rd., Pensacola, FL 32508. MARJORIE A. MCQUILLEN husband Jack, who predeceased her, October 18, 2019 in Dhahran. Survived by her daughter RICHARD “RICH” She joined Aramco in 1956 as a Tracy who may be contacted c/o nurse and met her husband John, Carmel Valley Library, 650 W. Carmel TOWNSEND an accountant, in Dhahran. Survived Valley Rd., Carmel Valley, CA 93924. February 24, 2020 by her husband and daughters Mary He joined the Dhahran Health Center Patterson and Marie Beven. John may ROBERT “BOB” as a nurse in 1978 and retired from its be contacted at 2026 Tangle Lake Dr., SANTIMO Education group in in 2003. Survived Kingwood, TX 77339-3358. by his brothers Max, Ray and Gene. November 7, 2019 The family may be contacted c/o He worked at the ‘Uthmaniyah Gas Headwaters Trail System, P.O. Box 187, ALTHEA M. NIEHAUS Plant from 1980-85 and Abqaiq Plants Three Forks, MT 59752. December 26, 2019 Instrumentation Dept. from 1990-97. Predeceased by her husband, retiree Survived by his sister Kay Balyeat who MARY F. VICKREY Ralph Niehaus, and survived by may be contacted at 2201 Dutcher St., children Marcy, Ted and Julia. The Flint, MI 48532. May 17, 2018 family may be contacted c/o St. Predeceased by her husband Doyt. The couple spent 32 years with Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 2620 GEORGE SCHOLZ Crestview Dr., Edinburg, TX 78539. Aramco. Survived by her niece Rosalie September 16, 2019 Liddell who may be contacted at 666 He worked in Training in Abqaiq and Grafton Park Dr., Chico, CA 95926. Dhahran from 1982-90. Survived by his wife Celeste and daughters

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97210araD12R1.indd 33 4/7/20 8:48 PM PLEASANT DAYS SPRING 2020 THE MAGAZINE FOR RETIRED ARAMCONS PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAI D Houston, TX Permit No. 625

ISSN-1319-1512 Aramco Americas Public Affairs Department P.O. Box 2106 Houston, Texas 77252-2106

Found! Bob Thielhelm (DH55) found this print, along with several other watercolor scenes by A. Ma‘alouf, when looking through storage boxes belonging to his late parents, annuitants Harry and Helen Thielhelm. Harry entered the oil business in Venezuela in 1937, joined Aramco in New York in 1950 and transferred to Dhahran in 1953. He retired from General Office Engineering in 1967. Bob himself retired from the Pipelines organization after a 15-year career in 1991. The print is captioned only “Saudi Arabia,” but what remains of the palace in the background is reminiscent of the one built by pearl merchant Muhammed ibn Abdul Wahhab at Darin on Tarut Island, north of Dhahran, in the 1880s.

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