Pleasant Days Spring 2018 the Magazine for Retired Aramcons Prsrt Std U.S

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PLEASANT DAYS SPRING 2018 THE MAGAZINE FORTHE SAUDIMAGAZINE ARAMCO FOR RETIREESRETIRED WORLDWIDEARAMCONS CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS 2 REUNIONS 6 MAIL CENTER 9 MOSAIC 30 IN MEMORIAM BROWNBOOK

12 FêtesFê Galore!Gl ! Across the continent, from Austin to 14 Crown Prince Pays Visit Houston and from Toronto to Ross- LEFT: ARTHUR CLARK; RIGHT: ROBERT ALLRED; BOTTOM RIGHT: COURTESY COURTESY ALLRED; BOTTOM RIGHT: ROBERT CLARK; RIGHT: ARTHUR LEFT: moor, Calif., Aramcons celebrated the Crown Prince Mohammed ibn Salman, left, admires the gift of antique holiday season. Striking their traditional silver spurs, symbolizing his work to advance the kingdom’s growth, that he pose at the Austin party are Marge received from Saudi Aramco at a reception in Houston on April 7, with guests Johannson (center) and (from left) her including some 40 retirees. To his left are retired Aramco CEO Frank Jungers; daughters Gen, Karin and Julie, with Khalid Al-Falih, minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources; and Julie’s husband, Tom Doody. Nasser Al-Naﬁsee, executive director, Saudi Aramco Public Affairs.

18 103-Year-Old Retiree 22 AramcoWorld Cherishes Memories Garners Accolade When Johnnie Brownbook, a stylish, Dubai-based cultural pub- Merritt landed in lication, featured two former Aramcons among Dhahran in 1948, interviewees she had no place in an 80-page to stay. “Since my tribute to name was Johnnie, AramcoWorld, Personnel wouldn’t praising the believe a woman magazine was coming,” for its work she recalls. But “to piece she stayed for 22 together a years, welcoming cultural and new employees historical when they arrived narrative of at the Dhahran the Middle Airport. East.” COVER, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: AP PHOTO/KGC-375/STAR MAX/IPX 2018; MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; JOHNNY HANSON. THIS PAGE, TOP MAX/IPX 2018; MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; JOHNNY HANSON. THIS PAGE, AP PHOTO/KGC-375/STAR COVER, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah ADDRESS CORRESPONDENCE TO PRESIDENT Basil A. Abul-Hamayel The Editor, Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah “Pleasant Days,” is produced for annuitants, Aramco Services Company DIRECTOR, PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT Jamal K. Khudair families and friends of Aramco, now Saudi Two Allen Center EDITOR Arthur Clark Aramco, and its associated companies 1200 Smith St. by Aramco Services Company. CIRCULATION Melissa Altman Houston, TX 77002 SPRING 2018. ISSN-1319-1512 [email protected] DESIGN Graphic Engine Design Studio 26 Aramco Offspring Make Waves The posters sum it up: Filmmaker Todd Nims and sustainable-business mentor Carrie Norton are charting creative career paths by working with others. They’ve both boldly built eye-opening professions. 29 Embassy Thanks Nine Antiquities 24 First Brat? Who was the first Aramco Brat? Donors There are several candidates, includ- Marian Ferguson was among nine ing John Roy Kessinger, born in participants in Saudi Aramco’s An- Dhahran on Aug. 8, 1940. The son tiquities Homecoming Project who of Arthur and Beatrice Kessinger received certificates of apprecia- and the first American child born in tion and learned anew about Saudi Saudi Arabia, he’s high on the list of traditions at the Saudi Embassy in “First Brat” contenders. Washington, D.C., in November.

Welcome, Alaela Subscribers

This is the ﬁrst issue of Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah for subscribers to Alaela,

Aramco Overseas Company’s regional retiree magazine, which

was recently discontinued to serve the company’s global annuitant

community through a single publication. We welcome all our new

readers. Feel free to communicate through our “Mail Center” section.

If you have stories to contribute, please send queries to Arthur Clark

at [email protected]. Send subscription queries to

Melissa Altman at [email protected]. The current

issue and past issues of Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah are online at

http://www.aramcoservices.com/publications/al-ayyam-al-jamilah.aspx.

Aramco Overseas Company, London, published Alaela for regional retirees from 2010-16. The last issue featured the 2016 UKaramcons Reunion. TOP LEFT: COURTESY JOHN KESSINGER; TOP RIGHT: ARTHUR CLARK ARTHUR JOHN KESSINGER; TOP RIGHT: COURTESY TOP LEFT:

Cover: Crown Prince Mohammed ibn Salman posed with Aramco retirees and Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih, left front, in Houston on April 7. He met Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on March 7 and President Donald Trump in the White House on March 20. N NIO EU S R CON AM KAR H U the 7T L for ISTO e to BR Welcom

THE INDEPENDENT IN 2017 CALLED BRISTOL, ON THE SOUTHWEST COAST OF ENGLAND, “THE BEST PLACE IN THE U.K. TO SPEND A WEEKEND.” THE TIMES VOTED IT THE U.K.’S “BEST PLACE TO LIVE” THREE OUT OF THE LAST FOUR YEARS.

hat was good enough for 2018 plus the Wild Place Project. UKaramcons Reunion cohosts Attendees with an architectural bent may Jimmy and Veronica Anderson and visit Tyntesfield, a Victorian country house Mike and Sue Higgins, who announced just outside Bristol, Bristol Cathedral and in January that the seventh biennial get- Llandoger Trow, a pub dating to 1664. together will be held at the Bristol Hotel, Bristol’s Temple Meads Station, with high- in the heart of the city, Sept. 21-22. speed connections to all major U.K. cities, is Veronica and Jimmy Anderson “We’re looking forward to meeting a 15-minute walk from the hotel. The Bris- and greeting you all and spending time with tol Airport is close by and there is shuttlebus special friends to create another memorable service from the airport to the station. UKaramcons Reunion,” they said. Hotel prices (including breakfast) for Sept. The Tom Henderson Memorial Golf Tour- 21 are £100 single, and £110 double; on nament, named after the late reunion founder Sept. 22, prices are £135 and £145. who hosted the first five reunions with his Seventy rooms have been held for the wife, Elaine, will take place Sept. 21. The reunion, but attendees must secure reser- reunion dinner, hosted by Aramco Overseas vations with a credit card before Aug. 31. Company, London, will be Sept. 22. To book a room, ring the Bristol Hotel at Bristol is “one of the U.K.’s most exciting 01179 23 0333, dial 1 for reservations and cities,” said the hosts. The waterfront hotel quote “Ukaramcons reunion 2018.” offers easy to access to theaters, museums After reserving a room attendees should and art galleries, as well as shopping. e-mail [email protected] or phone Foodies will find a wealth of restaurants the Andersons at 01249 783389 to reserve on the harbor side just across from the hotel. a place at the dinner. Mike and Sue Higgins There are also markets with jewelry, clothing, Those who live near Bristol and do not books, art, food stalls and local produce. stay at the hotel are welcome to join all re- Guests with a sense of sense of adventure union activities, but to attend the dinner percent discount for the evening. can try a hot-air balloon ride. Those looking they should make a reservation by calling Golf tournament details and information for relaxation can enjoy a leisurely cruise on the Andersons. about an outing the night of Sept. 21 will the Kennett and Avon canal. There is an NCP car park beside the ho- be available at https://aramcoexpats.com/ Anyone with an interest in wildlife will tel. Hotel guests pay £5 per day. Those at- events/7th-uk-aramcons-reunion/ as soon as

love the Bristol Aquarium and Bristol Zoo, tending the dinner only may receive a 50 they are ﬁnalized. BRISTOL TOP: DESTINATION

2 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah aramco-hafla-annuitants-reunion/. Discounted hotel rates will also be available Sept. 12-15 and Sept. 19-22 for those who wish to spend more time in the Austin/ Central Texas Area. Austin is the “live music capital of the world,” as well as home to many other attractions. We chose the reunion venue because of the wide variety of activities and comfortable rooms it offers. If you just want to relax and enjoy your time with friends, Austin ‘Hafla’ 2018 you probably won’t even have to venture outdoors because most of the hotel rooms, A ‘Family’ Affair meeting rooms and dining facilities are in When talking to friends about our the same building. experiences working for Saudi On the other hand, there are many other activities you may find of interest. In ad- David and Vicki Jessich Aramco, we are often asked what dition to the free s’mores prepared each it was like living and working in evening, there are highly rated spa facilities, the kingdom. We always reply that free bicycles to ride around the resort, and swimming, kayaking, rafting, golfing and one of the things we liked best was horseback riding. If zip-lining or hiking are that we could pick our own family. on your bucket list, the resort is adjacent to the McKinney Roughs Nature Park, with Not only did we find new “brothers” and free shuttles provided. “sisters,” but our children found new While we are still in the process of final- “cousins,” “aunts” and “uncles”—meaning izing the schedule for the Hafla, here are we had new “nephews” and “nieces.” So some of the lined-up activities. we always look forward to attending the biennial Annuitants Reunions and spend- Sept. 15: Early registration begins in ing time with our “family,” as well as other the afternoon. former Aramcons with whom we can share Sept. 16: Registration continues, an ecu- our experiences and memories. menical service will take place in the af- It will be our great pleasure and honor ternoon and the Exhibits will open. There to cohost the Austin Hafla 2018 from Sept. will be an Austin country casual evening— 16-19 at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines a social hour followed by a Chuckwagon Judy and Bill Walker Resort and Spa in Cedar Creek, Texas, 17 Buffet and music and dancing. miles east of Austin-Bergstrom Interna- Sept. 17: A breakfast buffet will be provided. Tours of the Austin area will tional Airport. provided. Registration and Exhibits con- be featured and Exhibits will continue. Registration has already begun for the tinue. Golf, trapshooting and a bridge After the social hour, there will be a reunion and for rooms at the Hyatt at dis- tournament are planned. There will be Middle Eastern Buffet, followed by counted rates. To receive the discounted several presentations about the history music and dancing. rates, in addition to making hotel reservations of the company, the 2019 KSA Reunion, Sept. 19: Farewell! you must complete the required Registra- the history of Austin and other topics. tion forms and submit the $250 registration A photographer will take individual If you have any questions, please contact us fee, as well as fees for golf, trapshooting and group photos in the afternoon and at austinhafl[email protected]. Please check or bridge if you want to participate in those evening. Aramco Services Company will aramcoexpats.com for further Hafla updates. activities. Registration forms, hotel-reserva- host the Gala Banquet, with a speaker Your Hosts, tion information and a list of attendees are at from the company and music. Judy and Bill Walker and https://www.aramcoexpats.com/events/2018- Sept. 18: A breakfast buffet will be Vicki and David Jessich

3 ion eun SA R 4th K nd the ns to Atte 20 Good Reaso ARTHUR CLARK ARTHUR

4 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah When planning your itinerary, remem- ber to schedule time to enjoy local activities, shop or just a walk around company communities. You will be amazed to see 3 2019 how al-Khobar has changed and developed! And there will still be time to play N TeaM a round of golf, browse at a Mall Day in :*KAƌť"( ad-Diwan in Dhahran or an art gallery in Dammam, experience a hearty Saudi wants to breakfast, or visit Munira Al Ashgar’s lovely home and museum. You can stay up-to-date on reunion Welcome planning through the Facebook page “2019 KSA Reunion.” You may sign up You Home for activities when the opportunity arises. The committee is arranging discounts with airlines. Dammam is the local airport. The committee is also negotiating fa- vorable rates with new four- and five-star hotels near the Mall of Dhahran to create an efficient bus-transportation system ByO%",('(Ý+ between the hotels and Dhahran. Attend- ees who choose not stay at a suggested hotel will need to provide for their own Are you still looking for good reasons transportation. Details about hotels and airlines will to sign up for the Fourth KSA Saudi Aramco be posted on Facebook when confirmed. Annuitants Reunion next year? There is no spare housing in Dhahran due to ongoing community works. If attendees plan to stay with a friend or a You each have special reasons, of course. the kingdom is different now than what family in Dhahran, hosts must receive They range from renewing ties with pre- they previously knew,” says Ali Baluchi, permission in advance from Housing. cious friends and revisiting the places the driving force behind all the KSA re- As at previous gatherings, a “Reunion where you grew and played, to seeing unions. “We want our visitors to enjoy House” in Dhahran will the base for how the company in which you invested their memories in the context of a mod- guests. You will be able to relax over your skills and knowledge has grown ern, civilized country with a deep history.” coffee, connect with friends, catch up on into a state-of-the-art, global petrochemi- Some things never change, and attend- reunion news and access wi-fi. A team of cals enterprise, furthering the develop- ees are guaranteed the best of traditional volunteers will welcome and help you. ment of a sophisticated, modern society Saudi hospitality. The committee’s Events Have you been convinced to attend that is proud of its rich cultural heritage. team is working with the Aramco com- the reunion? Then here's what you need Planning is well under way for the munity and the community at large to to do: event, which rolls out March 11-21, 2019. create a full and varied daily program for Register as early as possible, based on Registration for first-time attendees began all to enjoy. previous-reunion attendance. There is a April 1 at ksa-reunion.com. Those who Attendees will be special guests of nonrefundable registration fee of $150 per have attended past in-kingdom reunions President and CEO Amin Nasser at a person. Some activities will also have fees, are invited to sign up starting Oct. 1. Welcome event. Another reunion high- but all events are optional so there will be Retirees, spouses, children and grand- light will be a visit to the new King Ab- a reunion schedule to fit every budget. children are welcome. You will need to dulaziz Center for World Culture and the Make sure your passport has at least know the employee’s badge number to adjacent Energy Center in Dhahran. six-months validity when you enter register. If you do not know your badge There will be day trips to company Saudi Arabia in March. If it expires in or number, you may call Alight Aramco facilities such as Shaybah and to local before August 2019, you will need a new Benefits Center at 855-604-6220. tourist areas including al-Hasa, plus one. The committee will make arrange- “The 2019 Reunion Committee is overnight trips to Asir, Jiddah, Madain ments for visas. They cannot be issued committed to ensuring that our visitors Salih and Riyadh. Some trips will have until late January or February to be valid find and see what they particularly want a charge for accommodation, guides for the reunion. in Saudi Arabia, the country of oil, the and transportation, but the committee is We look forward to welcoming you desert and the camel, bearing in mind that working to keep costs competitive. home in 2019!

Opposite: Pictures from reunions past, in 2009 and 2015, offer an idea of the camaraderie and opportunities to discover Saudi Aramco and Saudi Arabia anew. If past is prelude, 2019 returnees will have a very good time.

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from migrating from Europe to last night, he wondered if you knew Africa.” However, Chris Boland, a about the very short film clip in color leader in compiling Saudi Aramco’s from the Aramco archives that is part Field Guide to the Biodiversity of of the “trailer” to the film The King- Dhahran, and retiree Jim Manda- dom, made several years ago. It is in ville, who reviewed the guide in the very beginning of the film, which the Fall 2017 issue, doubt that has several other scenes of Dhahran, Monarchs ever visited the Eastern including the pool. Province. “I suspect that the beau- Our part is of my sister and me leav- tiful butterflies Ann refers to are ing our barracks apartment with our prprobably either the Plain Tiger or little black lamb and running down Painted Lady,” Boland wrote. the beach. I assume it was taken the “Painted Lady is remarkable— same day as Mr. Richie’s black-and- it migrates 14,000 kilometers white photo. (7,000 north and 7,000 south Judy Bauer over the course of six genera- [email protected] tions)!” Mandaville could find no record of Monarchs in Saudi NOTE: The story featured a photo of Arabia, adding, “If it IS the Mon- Judy Webster and her sister, Sue, ages arch…it would be a very note- eight and five. Robert Yarnall Richie worthyw discovery for that area.” shot the picture. Another Richie photo, taken at the same time, included a third little girl (far right) whose identity is RememberingR unknown. Does anyone recognize her? PPete Monarch or Painted Lady? The Painted DecemberDe 15, 2017 Lady (top), a breeding migrant in the Thank you for letting me do the piecee Eastern Province, might easily be mis- about Pete Ballard (Fall 2017) and for (bottom) taken for the Monarch , which how it looked. Thanks for the word is unrecorded in the region. about my novel [The Last Innocent Hour], but really the whole magazine was terrific. Monarchs in Margot Abbott Saudi Arabia? [email protected] November 13, 2017 NOTE: Abbott wrote about her In the annals of Aramco is there men- friend and mentor, Pete Ballard, tion of a swarm of Monarch butterflies who died last year. The daughter of in Abqaiq one day between 1966 and Aramcons Fred and Jeanne Abbott, 1970? Those were the years Bob Lut- she also wrote “The Picture in the Sue and Judy Webster stand left next to trell’s family was living there and the Desert,” (Fall 2012) about her family’s an unknown little girl in this photo Luttrell’s eldest daughter, Robin, swears sojourn in the kingdom. It focused on taken at Ras Tanura in 1946, shortly she saw them all over the yard. Robin the time when her parents and siblings, after they arrived with their mother, is a reliable source because she and I Carol and Fred, figured in a 1949 Life Mildred, to join their father, Ken. went to the same college and we were magazine story. Margot Abbot was close neighbors in Dhahran, Atlanta born in 1949, so missed out. and now in Decatur, Georgia! I hope Mom Would Have there is a record of the butterflies. Ann Rhea ‘Ras Tanura Enjoyed Issue [email protected] January 2, 2018 Memories’ a Hit I enjoyed “Ras Tanura Photo Brings NOTE: Robin Luttrell checked with a December 15, 2017 Back Memories!” How I wish Mom had friend and wrote: “Someone else re- Our copy of Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah ar- lived to enjoy this special tribute. members the butterflies, in Ras Tanura. rived yesterday and it was wonderful I was also happy to see “Aramco Ex- You didn’t imagine it.” The date was to read “Ras Tanura Photo Brings pats.com Turns 15.” Vicci Turner has “either 1967 or 1968” and it was said Back Memories.” been wonderful, allowing me to pub- the butterflies “were blown off course As my husband Dale read the article lish the letters of my grandparents, Ken LEFT, TOP: JEM BABBINGTON; RIGHT: ROBERT YARNALL RICHIE YARNALL ROBERT RIGHT: JEM BABBINGTON; TOP: LEFT,

6 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah and Mildred Webster, on AramcoEx- Stories on Photos and are providing to old Aramcons by pub- pats.com. She just published Chapter lishing Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah. 18 and it looks great. My goal is to Papers Appreciated Rais Akhtar publish a hardcover book illustrated December 21, 2017 [email protected] with my grandmother’s photos and I read the Fall 2017 issue of Al-Ayyam other images saved by my family. Al-Jamilah with great interest, not only I met Vicci when I went to a re- for the Ayesha Malik story, “Aramco: ASC Flood Move union of “The Geezers”—an informal Above the Oil Fields,” but also for group of original Aramco Brats—in the story about Tom Barger’s papers, Completes ‘Full Circle’ Seattle nearly 10 years ago. Aunt Judy “Rich Photo Collections Help Preserve February 3, 2018 invited me and I spent several days Heritage.” with those great folks and learned I just finished Barger’s Into the Blue, more about her, my mother and my which I enjoyed very much. He was a grandparents and Aunt Judy. They natural and expressive writer and cre- made me an “official” Geezer, too! ated a fascinating portrait of Saudi Ara- Ken Slavin bia in the ’30s. I’m headed to George- [email protected] town on a research trip sometime in the new year. I wonder if his papers will NOTE : Ken Slavin’s mother, Sue, died be there? last year before the publication of the Keija Parssinen story. His compilation of his grand- [email protected] parents’ letters and photos starts at https://aramcoexpats.com/articles/dear- folks-chapter-1/. Bob Rigsby is Missed January 27, 2018 Houston Brat It is very sad to know through Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah about Bob Rigsby’s death. Recounts Harvey’s Toll Please accept my best condolences on December 17, 2017 his departure. Prayers are for him and to I am writing…regarding your desire to all the family to bear the loss. Bob Gabler, right, and his son, Michael, connect with Brats (I am Class of ‘87) I worked at West Pier with Bob Yates relished Scuba-diving in the Gulf. He who were affected by Harvey. from 1973 to 1985 when I retired and spent a year in Dhahran with his fam- I don’t know that I would use the Bob Rigsby was our superintendent of ily, in 1984-85. term friendly, but, unfortunately, Offshore Drilling. I have a lot of good Harvey and my wife and I became memories of that Golden Period, and Recent events brought back memories acquainted due to a foot of water in saw offshore drilling progress from a of my 25-year career in Houston. It my home. Our home in the Bear Creek division to become a department. I can started at the Milam Building, then to area of Houston not only received a go on with lots of success. Two Allen Center and then to our own foot of water, but the water did not I joined Aramco in July 1973 and building at 9009 West Loop South. recede for a week. We carried no was posted to the Abqaiq Drilling Now, due to several very damaging flood insurance (we do now) and only Toolhouse. After a few months I was floods, ASC has moved back to Two received funds from FEMA. With those transferred to Bob Rigsby’s division. At Allen Center…thus completing a full funds and our savings, thankfully, we that time, there were only two Aramco- circle of venues. were able to return to our home after owned offshore rigs and one contract Joining ASC in 1976 was one of the almost 90 days. rig in operation. best decisions in my entire life. I met Unfortunately, we lost 90 percent of When I joined Aramco I was 24 years and have many good friends from there, our furniture and have only been able old and a very shy person with very including a number of Saudis. Notable to replace a few pieces. Harvey has little experience of life. Luckily, I had among them was Aziz D. Al-Falih, broken us financially, but not broken very experienced associates from Texas whose son Khalid is now the minister of our spirit and we are happy at least to who taught me lot and I learned very Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, be back in our home. We have found fast, too. Later on, I was more Texan succeeding Ali Al-Naimi. that the kindness of others still exists than Pakistani (especially on the phone Among my top experiences was an and have welcomed that help, as well and on radio). assignment in Dhahran in 1984-85 as tried our best to pay it forward. I married and raised four children— with my wife, Joan, and our children, Ronald Langan two daughters and two sons—during Michael and Susan. While there, they 16034 Hidden Acres Dr my Aramco tenure. were able to visit China with the Dhah- Houston TX 77084 I appreciate the kind of services you ran Outing Group. My son and I got

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Scuba-certified at the Third St. pool Delft-style humidor in the late ‘50s. I and dove in the Arabian Gulf. guess that the humidor was presented In Houston I was a member of the by the maintenance corps in Gandar, ASC team that went to Nuremberg, Newfoundland [a refueling stop for Germany, to purchase a previously Aramco aircraft], as a token of friend- owned Hawker Jet Air Ambulance for ship when the international flights were the Aviation Dept. In Dhahran I was also discontinued in late 1960. My dad was involved in purchasing five new Boeing relocated from the New York office to 737-400 airliners for Aramco. Another Dhahran. The second photo shows navi- one of my responsibilities at ASC was to gator Bob Fenton (left) with my father, escort young, upcoming Saudi profes- c. 1955, at the doorway of an Aramco sionals and managers on visits to some DC-6. Fenton is showing the size of the of our major suppliers. fish that got away on their Newfound- With modern technology, I’ve been able lland fishing trip. As I recall there were to maintain contact with great company tthree crewmembers (pilot, copilot and friends in Dhahran, The Hague and a num- nnavigator) and two stewardesses on the ber of states and in the Houston area. iinternational flights. I sincerely thank ASC and Saudi ChrisC Lund Aramco for a very rewarding and en- [email protected] joyable career. Anglers among Aramco’s international Bob Gabler flight crews in the 1940s and ‘50s [email protected] repaired to the Honey Buckette and Rod Club on their Newfoundland stop. Navigator Bob Fenton departs a plane, fishing rod in hand, as pilot Christian Thanks for Lund watches. “I think they would ride Posting Picture up on an Aramco flight, spend a few days fishing, and then ride back to February 16, 2018 Top: Geologist Lionel von Hornlein Idlewild. Ah, those were more carefree, adapted to conditions in the kingdom in Thank you so much for posting my almost inconceivable, days,” says the late 1930s. Above: He’s shown in a request for more information [about Lund’s son, Chris. geologist Lionel von Hornlein] in the 1941 passport photo stamped in Baghdad. letters section of your lovely magazine for Aramco expats! I received an in- time with the company. teresting request from Aqeel Alonazi, Alonazi regularly reads AlAl-- a former media adviser at Ministry of Ayyam Al-Jamilah at http://p:// Petroleum and Mineral Resources, in www.aramcoservices.com/m/ regard to that letter. Publications/Al-Ayyam-Al-Al- He wrote: “I would be very grateful Jamilah.aspx. In 2009 hee if you would send me some stories and replied to a Mail Center queryquery images about the era when your father by Mike Keller about howw toto lived in Saudi Arabia as I am starting to reach his father’s coworkerrkerr inin write a book about the oil epic during Abqaiq, Sa‘ad al-Shammari.mari. the early days and the heroes that cre- Alonazi contacted his rela-ela- ated this great history. Of course, your tives in Abqaiq to track downdown father was one of them.” al-Shammari, and Keller,r, hishis Also, I found this picture taken after mother and sister reunitedted my dad grew a beard in 1939 or 1940 with him during the 200909 Ex-Ex- and took to wearing more sensible patriates Reunion (Springg ’09)’09) Saudi headwear to protect himself after a 41-year hiatus. from the sun while doing fieldwork. I thought you might enjoy it. I believe he is standing outside one of the barastis Gander Story in Dhahran. A-Lan Reynolds Follow Up [email protected] March 5, 2018 Ancillary to the Gander story (“Mail NOTE: Reynolds wrote (Spring ’17) Center,” Fall ’17) my father, pilot Chris- seeking information about her father’s tian J. Lund, received a Dutch-made,

8 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah MOSAIC

AMIN AND WAINE CAPTURE TOP PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZES wo former company photographers, gold medals from U.S. and other com- to Cheshire, home to Waine’s company, T Shaikh Amin and Adrian Waine, won petitions. He retired as chief photogra- Photography for Industry. top prizes in U.S., Greek and U.K. forums pher in 1985 after a 37-year career, and The Times and The Daily Telegraph pub- in 2017 for pictures ranging from the returned to shoot on special assignments lished stories about the award. Waine called sublime to the technically challenging. for a decade after that. that a good omen for his future, “especially Amin, who lives in Islamabad, Paki- Amin won a gold medal from the as British manufacturing is on the up.” stan, added to his substantial chest of Fifth Olympic Photo Circuit in Greece for his nature-category entry, “Birds Resting in Fog.” He won another gold from the 26th annual Georgia Southern Circuit in Atlanta for “Enjoying Pure Drink-2,” portraying an ant on a ﬂower petal. Waine, who worked at the Photo Unit from 1988-95, won the “Best Profes- sional Photographer” prize in December in the “Made in Britain, Loved by the World” competition sponsored by the Engineering Employers’ Federation. He received the honor in Parliament in Lon- don, where he was shortlisted for the award in 2015 and runner-up in 2016. He won the top prize for a photo of a huge water-cooled industrial Shaikh Amin’s “Enjoying compressor powering stone-cutting Pure Drink-2” won a gold equipment in Derbyshire in North- Adrian Waine received his “Made in Britain, medal at the 2017 Georgia Central England. Derbyshire is next door Loved by the World” top prize in London in Southern Circuits competition. December.

ARAMCONS ACHIEVE NONAGENARIAN MILESTONES wo former Aramcons celebrated nonagenarian birthdays late Hunter, on Nov. 6 at the Austin Club in Austin. Tlast year, winning good wishes at special cake-cuttings in Texas. In 1933, at age five, she and her mother moved to Palestine, where her father, John Wier, worked for Sony Vacuum—which Doris Bedrossian Bobb, who became an Aramco shareholder and was later renamed Mobil. turned 95 on Dec. 2, was She met Bill Rich when she was a clerk at Gulf Oil in Venezuela. 95 treated to dinner at Ciao Bello Lisa and her brother, Stephen, were born there when their dad in Houston. Twenty family worked for Mobil in the 1950s. members came from California, “Mom loved living abroad in Venezuela, Kuwait and Saudi Washington, Florida and Pennsylva- Arabia, and experiencing other cultures and sites,” Lisa said. nia to help her celebrate. One of her favorite Saudi experiences occurred in Waco, She traveled to Dhahran with her Texas, in 2002 when she was among a group of retirees who husband, Dr. Arthur Bobb, and their met Crown Prince Abdullah sons, Fred, Alan and Andrew, in 1963, ibn Abdulaziz at the airport Marion Rich DeFord and returned to her home in Drexel, when he arrived to visit Penn., in 1980. President George W. “I’m doing fine from the neck up,” Bush. The crown prince Doris Bedrossian Bobb she said with a laugh. “I use a walker to noticed she was wear- 90 prevent falling. No driving anymore!” ing a necklace with her However, she did some dancing—without a walker—at a name in Arabic and said, New Year’s Eve party in Houston where she wore an embroidered “Hello, Marion,” when he blue-and-gold Saudi gown and a necklace displaying a gold coin shook her hand. minted by United States in the mid-1940s to pay for oil purchases “Mom told me it was an in Saudi Arabia—special souvenirs of her years in Saudi Arabia. absolute honor and highlight of her life to be included in Marion Rich DeFord, who lived in Dhahran during the 1970s that event and the subsequent with her first husband, the late Bill Rich, celebrated her 90th dinner in the prince’s honor in birthday with family and friends, including her daughter, Lisa Houston,” her daughter said.

9 MOSAIC

AUTHOR ADDS NEW BOOK leksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, the wife A of late Aramcon Norman Boehm, has added a new book to her list of English and Polish titles with publication this year of Untold Stories of Polish Heroes from World War II by University Press of America. She has won several literary awards. Untold Stories consists of biographies of men and women who struggled against Germany and the U.S.S.R. during the war, including the father of former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzez- inski called Ziolkowska-Boehm’s 2013 book, Ken Wright, standing back right with his wife, Ruth (in red jacket), along with Dr. Ramiro The Polish Experience through World War II, Matos of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (left center, “a remarkable and highly personal account in gray jacket), celebrated with Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs represen- tatives at the dedication of the ancient Inca Road system as an International Historical Civil of the…suffering the victims of both Hitler- Engineering Landmark on Nov. 7 at Rumicolca, near Cusco, Peru. ism and Stalinism had to endure…beyond the comprehension of most Americans.” WRIGHTS PUT ANCIENT INCA ROAD Her other books include Kaia, Heroine of the 1944 Warsaw Rising; Open Wounds, ON NEW CIVIL-ENGINEERING MAP A Native American Heritage; On the Road he ancient Inca Road system link- Paleohydrological Institute (www. with Suzy, From Cat to Companion; and In- Ting Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, wrightpaleo.com), whose mission is “to grid Bergman and Her American Relatives. Bolivia and Argentina gained memorial further the knowledge of past civiliza- The Bergman book was inspired by her status late last year with some help from tions through the study of ancient husband’s link to the Swedish actress: Her former Aramcons Ken and Ruth Wright. water management and practices.” father and Norman Boehm’s paternal The Wrights, both 89, worked for The Wrights met Landaveri when grandmother were siblings, making him Aramco in the early 1950s. They joined she served as Peru’s consul-general in and Bergman first cousins once removed. Dr. Ramiro Matos of the Smithsonian Denver. They worked with Matos when He wrote about meeting his famous Institution’s National Museum of the they were preparing a scholarly article cousin in “Bachelor Days” in the Winter American Indian (NMAI), Peruvian for the exhibition, “The Great Inca 2002 issue of Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah. diplomat Marita Landaveri and others Road: Engineering an Empire,” that runs Boehm joined Aramco in 1952 and at ceremonies in Cusco, Peru, from through mid-2020 at the NMAI. worked in the kingdom and the New York Nov. 5-7, to celebrate the 500-year- The Wrights’ interest in the road dates office, transferring to Exxon in 1974. old road system’s designation as an to the 1990s when they discovered a International Historical Civil Engineer- long-lost section exiting Machu Picchu, ing Landmark by the American Society Peru, and extending toward the Amazon. of Civil Engineers (ASCE). “The more we learned about the Inca The Wrights nominated the 24,000- Road system, the more interested we mile highway for the honor on behalf became,” Ken said. Along with serving of Peru’s Ministry of Culture and repre- an economic role moving goods and sented the ASCE. people, the road system was “a display The road system tied the Inca Empire of the empire’s centralized power and together in pre-Columbian times and Peru led to the empire’s capital at Cusco.” lay at the intersection of its four main ar- He said that the couple’s time in teries. The ASCE ceremony took place at Dhahran “contributed to our interests Rumicolca, the ancient gate to Cusco. in ancient cultures. I was given the op- On Nov. 7, at a ceremony with the portunity to freely travel around al-Hasa mayor of Cusco at the National Univer- and to understand the importance of sity of St. Anthony, the Wrights received even primitive roads to tie communities Aleksandra Ziolkow- ska-Boehm and her academic honors for their years of re- together and to provide opportuni- husband, the late search in Peru on native technology and ties for interurban communication and Aramcon Norman the Inca Road system. activity. The relics of the early Portu- Boehm, celebrated at Ken Wright heads Wright Water guese influence in the area, coupled his high-school class Engineers in Denver and Ruth Wright with Saudi culture, piqued my interest reunion in Washing- ton, N.J., in 1990. is an attorney. They operate the Wright in other civilizations.”

10 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah MOSAIC

ÉMIGRÉS MAKE RETURN TRIP TO ‘ENCOURAGING’ PAKISTAN FOR VALIMA RECEPTION TURNOUT AT SAEEA hahab Shaikh, an Indian who moved with his family to Toronto, Canada, EVENT IN KARACHI Swhen he retired from the Ras Tanura Producing Dept. (RTPD) in 2011, traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, with his wife Rehana to attend the wedding of a he Saudi Aramco Ex-Employees Assn. (SAEEA) family member early this year. T held its 18th get-together at the Arena Club The Shaikhs have four sons and a daughter who live in Canada. Their in Karachi on March 3, with a strong turnout of son Junaid, his wife and two daughters, and their son Danish met them in 131 retirees and family members. Karachi near the end of the trip. “The number of attendees was very encour- The Shaikhs performed ‘umrah in Makkah in November before traveling to aging,” said SAEEA Vice President Iqbal Ahmed Pakistan. Shahab’s brother, Tahir, who retired from the E-W Pipelines Dept. in Khan. “Attendees met with their old buddies and 2017, traveled from Riyadh see them. The Shaikhs also visited Madinah before enjoyed the event.” ﬂying to Karachi to visit Rehana’s relatives, and then traveled to Lahore. Khan’s son-in-law, Dr. Ata Ur Rehman, deliv- The Shaikhs attended the valima wedding reception for Rehana’s nephew ered a well-received talk about diabetes. in Karachi on Jan. 15. There they met several old friends from the kingdom, Anwarul Hai, Abdul Hakeem and Memona including Iqbal Ahmed Khan, another RTDP retiree. Shaikh replaced Khan in Anwar joined the SAEEA, boosting membership to his position in the department when he retired in 2006. 234. The SAEEA “It was a pleasure meeting Shahab Shaikh and his sons after a long time,” was established Guest Atauddin Qureshi showed said Khan, a director of the Ex-Saudi Aramco Employees Assn. in Karachi. in 2010. off his one-and-a-half-year-old grandchild, Memona, at the President SAEEA gathering March 3. Kamal Farooqui expressed his sorrow at the deaths of two members, Ateeq Ur Rehman Khan and Anwar Mirza, since the previous gathering in July. He thanked the attendees Shahab Shaikh, center right, poses with his sons, Danish, left, and Junaid, right, and for making the former Ras Tanura Producing Dept. colleague Iqbal Ahmed Khan, at the valima wedding event a success. reception for his wife’s nephew in Karachi.

NANCES’ ‘BEDOUIN ARTS’ EXHIBITION VISITS TEXAS

Traditional Arts of the Bedouin,” a trav- two-month run at the Wayne Stark Galler- Missouri in Warrensburg. The touring “ eling display of Arabian artifacts from ies that concluded March 14. show consists of around 50 artifacts and the collection of Paul Nance and his wife, When the Nances retired from Aramco artworks drawn from the collection. Colleen, engaged young and old at Texas after Paul’s 31-year career in 1985, they “Paul’s dream was to someday have the A&M University in College Station during a established the Nance Museum in Kings- extensive contents of the Nance Collec- ville, Mo., to teach visitors about the places tion displayed in a permanent building they had lived or visited in the Arab world in his hometown of Kansas City or at the and Asia. They also introduced children to university, for continuing promotion of Saudi culture by taking selections of the education and understanding of Saudi collection’s artifacts to schools. culture,” said his son, Mark, who grew up In 2002 they gave the Nance Collec- in the kingdom and worked for Aramco tion—the largest of its kind outside the in the 1970s and ‘80s. “I’m sure he would Middle East—to the University of Central be pleased at the university’s effort at the interim outreach programs.” This belled Bedouin hair ornament was among the approximately 50 objects drawn from the The exhibition will tour through the Nance Collection that featured in “Traditional spring of 2019. Its next stop is at the Arts of the Bedouin,” a show that ran for two Arlington (Texas) Museum of Art from June months this winter at Texas A&M University. 16-Aug. 11. MARK NANCE

11 FÊTESGalore!

Company Says “THANK YOU” pamer and Mike Kavalski, who worked in Terminal Operations and Terminal Main- at Texas Holiday Parties tenance, respectively, shared tales of two decades together in Ras Tanura—often Nearly 160 retirees and family with a laugh. members celebrated at Christmas They remembered a test-and-inspec- parties in Austin and Houston in mid- tion on Sea Island No. 3 in 1987 when December, receiving warm wishes the galley ran low on cooking oil and the and thanks for their service from fish served tasted sour. The joke was that ASC executives. someone had substituted more readily available hydraulic oil for cooking oil, Er- AUSTIN spamer said. Nobody had a problem like The Central Texas Annuitants that with the Christmas party fare! Christmas Party, held Dec. 11 Brats shared in the festivities. The young- at the Austin Club, a few blocks est was Scott Squires (DH04), who accom- from the gaily lit capitol, drew panied his parents, Jeff and Lisa Squires. a record 102 guests from across central Texas. David and Vicki Jessich hosted the dinner event, which ASC President and HOUSTON CEO Basil Abul-Hamayel and Public Af- Jamal Khudair brought a fairs Director Jamal Khudair attended. similar message of appreci- “We’re here simply to say, ‘Thank ation to the Houston-Area you,’” Abul-Hamayel told attendees. “Ar- Retirees Holiday Luncheon, amco would not be one of the world’s cohosted by Bill Smart and Bonnie App at AUSTIN (top): Marte Powers, 95, who joined her husband, Brock, in Dhahran in 1953, leading energy and chemicals companies the Briar Club on Dec. 13. More than 50 shared her story with ASC President and without the strong foundation that you guests attended. CEO Basil Abul-Hamayel. Above: Mike established. Your continued support and He paid tribute to retirees for serv- Erspamer, left, and Mike Kavalski traded positive career experiences tell the world ing as “ambassadors” for the company tales of old times at Ras Tanura. HOUSTON what a great company Aramco is.” and the kingdom in their communi- (below): Nancy Rosen, Mike Omar and Jim Karna made a happy threesome. Bottom: He pointed to recent developments in ties. He added that he was struck during Joining the fun were cohost Bill Smart and the company and the kingdom as encour- the holiday season by the sacrifices that Edna and James Catchings. aging signs for the future. They included the company’s early American employ- the company’s planned IPO and the plans ees and their families had made to work to allow women to drive in 2018. in Saudi Arabia. He said he would have He also noted reports that the king- found it difficult to live in such isolated dom’s visa policy had been relaxed to al- communities. low Saudi travel agencies to issue tourist Khudair noted that things had changed visas, adding: “Maybe soon I will see some a lot in recent decades, and joked that he of you on vacation in Saudi Arabia.” might be able to see It’s a Wonderful Life Guests ranged from 95-year-old Marte in al-Khobar with attendees the next time Powers, who retired with her husband, they visited, given plans to open cinemas Brock, in 1979, to John Wolf, who com- in the kingdom as part of Saudi Arabia’s pleted a 37-year career just 11 days before fast-paced transformation program. the party. The hosts extended a warm “season’s Powers joined her husband in Dhah- greetings” to all and Smart thanked the ran in 1953. A geologist, he served as members of the group who had hosted president of Aramco from 1973 to 1978, monthly luncheons in 2017: Sally Johnson, and then was elected vice chairman of the Paul Daffin, Freddie Wong, Najwa Hajjar board of directors. and Markey Howell, Stan and Peggy Mc- Wolf was born in 1957 in Dhahran, Ginley and Verne Stueber, and Bruce Olsen. where his father, Harry, had arrived in Mike Sawran, who attended with his 1951. Harry retired with his wife, Joyce, wife Linda—and wore his trademark in 1989, but John—who joined the com- red-and-white Santa hat—summed up a pany in 1980—stayed on. He spent his feeling among all the attendees, saying, last 13 years in Drilling and Workover. “We enjoyed catching up with people we The party was part reunion. Mike Ers- hadn’t seen for a while.”

12 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah FOURTH TORONTO REUNION BRINGS BACK FOND MEMORIES “Aramco reunions are always fun as they bring back wonderful memories of our lives in Saudi Arabia,” reported Yasmin Khoury and Jasmine Carvalho, who organized the Fourth Toronto Re- union on Dec. 3. The party drew 41 former Aramcons who live in the Toronto area, and one— Ahmed Munir—who came all the way from Cleveland, Ohio. The event took place at the Bombay Palace Hotel in Brampton in suburban Toronto. “Toronto’s winter weather had still not set in and in fact was very pleas- Toronto guests were: Buvana & Vanson Ananthnarayanan, Farhat Begum & Anwar Baig, Aida & Mark Bowhay, Cathy & Fraser Brown, Jasmine & Wilfred Carvalho & son Marc, Farida Yasmin & ant,” said the hosts. Hamid Javaid, Tanaz (Khory) Jivraj & baby Kian Jivraj, Anwar Khan, Khalda & Masroor Khan, Yasmin “Aramcons enjoyed meeting, greeting & Farouk Khory, Ada & Wing Kwan, Kiran & Jay Lal, Maher Al-Maher, Ahmed Munir, Nabila & Shahid and catching up with news of fellow Ar- Naeem, Sabiha & Nishad Pasha, Bibi & Mohamed Patel, Nita & Shivani Sharma, Farzana & Yousef amcons. The place was abuzz with excite- Sheikh, Gul Sheikh, Fareeda & Yousef Syed, Ghonee & Don Thew and Savitri & Karan Yadav. ment. The large lunch buffet was delicious, from appetizers to the desserts,” they said. “reminding them of the places they lived, The next reunion is planned in Septem- Guests played games like Word Search worked or visited, the terms like inshallah ber, Khoury announced. She urged every- and Word Jumble, prepared by Tanaz (Kho- that they learned or the great food like one at the gathering to attend with other ry) Jivraj, and bingo, prepared by Carvalho, kabsa that they ate,” Khoury said. Aramcons who live in or around the area.

‘SWINGING SINGLES’ FROM ’50S REUNITE IN CALIFORNIA

The Swinging Singles Group, whose members struck up friendships in Dhahran in the early 1950s, gathered at Carol Keyes- Rader’s home in Rossmoor, Calif., on Jan. 7 to welcome the arrival of 2018. Her guests were Nancy Etherton Rushmer, Fran Grant, and Ken and Ruth Wright, along with Brats Doug Grant (RT71) and Jennifer Rader (RT70), who attended with her husband. They toasted absentee Verne Stueber of Houston, who was unable to attend the gourmet lunch and take part in conversation ﬁlled with fond memories. Front: Ken Wright, Doug Grant (RT71) and Jennifer Rader (RT70). Back: Nancy Etherton Rushmer, The Wrights brought copies of their Ruth Wright, Fran Grant, Carol Keyes-Rader and Klaus Kutz, Jennifer Rader’s husband. 2018 “Engineering Marvels” calendar featuring photos of Pompeii in Italy and California, Berkeley, where Ken presented there to help restart production following Machu Picchu in Peru, some of the latter a poster on the collapse of 500-year-old the 1950s shutdown. shot by Ruth Wright during the couple’s walls at the Inca site of Saqsaywaman, Grant shared stories about sailing in work at the famous Inca city. near Cusco, Peru. Half Moon Bay with her late husband, Prior to the reunion the Wrights at- The hostess entertained the group by Bob, who was commodore of the sailing tended the annual meeting of the Institute describing her “ﬂying-carpet” wedding club at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in for Andean Studies at the University of to Jack Rushmer in Iran after he moved New York in 1951. OPPOSITE: ARTHUR OPPOSITE: ARTHUR CLARK

13 Part of TRI-CONTINENT TOUR CROWN PRINCE Attends Reception with RETIREES in Mohammed ibn Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, capped a three-week tour of the United States with a HOUSTON whirlwind visit to Houston on April 7, where he made a final stop at a reception whose guests included around 40 Aramco retirees and family members. by In welcoming remarks, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources ARTHUR CLARK Khalid Al-Falih praised the contributions of the “American men and women who helped to build Aramco over many decades.” Later one of the retirees gave the crown prince a gift on behalf of Saudi Aramco: a pair of antique silver spurs symbolizing his fast-paced drive to diversify and expand the

Top: Crown Prince Mohammed ibn Salman shakes hands with retiree Frank Jungers, the last living American CEO of Aramco, as Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih looks on. The crown prince later posed for a picture with Al-Falih and retirees including Ali Baluchi, right foreground, and Stan McGinley, to his left. TOP: RICHARD DOUGHTY; BOTTOM: JOHNNY HANSON JOHNNY BOTTOM: RICHARD DOUGHTY; TOP:

14 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah kingdom’s economy through Vision 2030. Later he visited the company’s Houston print. U.S. Secretary of Energy and former The crown prince’s daylong stay in Research Center, where scientists from that Texas Governor Rick Perry, and Missis- Houston was part of a three-continent facility and sister centers in Boston and sippi Governor Phil Bryant, attended the tour to boost investments and encourage Detroit—part of Saudi Aramco’s global re- SABIC event. innovation in Saudi Arabia. By visiting search-and-development effort—discussed At Saudi Aramco’s reception for the Houston, he was following in the footsteps advances they have made in fields such as crown prince, Al-Falih highlighted the of his uncle, the late King Abdullah, who clean-engine technology. strong links between the kingdom and the traveled to the Bayou City, home of Saudi In addition, he traveled to a neighbor- United States. “Some of the most powerful Aramco’s U.S. headquarters, and met retir- hood in northeastern Houston that the and enduring relationships are those that ees in 2002 when he was crown prince. company had helped recover from Hur- exist between individual Saudis and Ameri- Before traveling to the United States, ricane Harvey in 2017 through a major do- cans, whether they are between business col- Crown Prince Mohammed visited Cairo nation to Habitat for Humanity. There he leagues and counterparts, fellow scientists and London. met one of the families that had benefited and researchers, professors and students, He met Queen Elizabeth II at Bucking- from the donation, along with Saudi stu- volunteers and community organizers, or ham Palace on March 7 and was hosted at a dent volunteers who responded to Hous- simply friends and neighbors,” he said. dinner by Prince Charles, later seeing senior ton-based Aramco Services Company’s call Those ties got a potential boost at the government officials and business represen- to help in the hurricane-response effort. reception as the crown prince oversaw the tatives. He met President Donald Trump in “Even if I’m not from here, I want to signing of memorandums of understand- Washington, D.C., on March 20 at the start give back to the community,” said a female ing by Saudi Aramco President and CEO of his cross-country U.S. trip, during which Saudi volunteer in a video screened at the Amin Nasser and the heads of Technip he also met Saudi students and captains of reception. “Helping others…is a beautiful FMC and Honeywell UOP to study mul- business, media and entertainment. Follow- thing to do,” said another volunteer. tibillion-dollar projects linked to Motiva ing his U.S. tour he flew to Paris to start a The crown prince also attended a gath- Enterprises, a company subsidiary, that visit to France. ering hosted by the Saudi Basic Industries would increase Saudi Aramco’s global pet- In Houston, he spent part of the day Corp. (SABIC), where he learned about rochemicals operation. Motiva’s refinery with former Presidents George H. W. Bush the Riyadh-based petrochemical manufac- in Port Arthur, Texas, which recently com- and George W. Bush. turer’s plans to enlarge its American foot- pleted a major expansion to process more

Some 40 retirees and family members attended the reception for the crown prince in downtown Houston. Clockwise, from top left: Jane Borst, Helen Streaker and Bonnie App made up a smiling threesome; Verne Stueber looked forward to a finjan of coffee; former AramcoWorld editors Rob Arndt and Bill Tracy, right and left, posed with Arndt’s wife, Nadine Payn, left, and AramcoWorld contributor Jane Grutz; Ali Baluchi, who flew in specially from Saudi Arabia for the reception, greeted Johnnie Merritt, 103—who knew him as an office boy in Dhahran in the late 1940s. TOP, AND BOTTOM LEFT: JOHNNY HANSON; BOTTOM RIGHT: RICHARD DOUGHTY RIGHT: HANSON; BOTTOM JOHNNY LEFT: AND BOTTOM TOP, than 600,000 barrels Johnnie Merritt, 103, of San of crude oil per day, Antonio (see story, p. 18). is the largest in the She joined the company in United States. 1948 and retired in 1970, In a live video link whereupon she married a to the reception, Jeff fellow retiree. “I’m so hap- Funkhauser, the refin- py to be here!” she said. ery’s onsite production Harry and Joyce Wolf manager, expressed also appreciated recon- his thanks for the necting with Saudi Arabia expansion. When the through the crown prince’s Motiva staff signed off visit. Harry joined Aramco with a hearty Shokrun in 1951, and met and mar- jazeelan! (“Thanks ried Joyce in 1956 in the very much”), the United States. crown prince respond- “I was six months preg- ed with a big smile. nant when we left for Saudi He also laughed Arabia in the summer of and smiled when 1957,” Joyce said. “My Frank Jungers, CEO mother was having a fit.” of Aramco in the The day they arrived in 1970s, gave him a the kingdom, “We drove to framed set of spurs Ras Tanura in a taxi without and retiree Bill air conditioning,” she said. “I Tracy explained their knew if I could survive that, I significance. could survive anything.” “These spurs are In fact, their son, John, particularly interesting joined the company himself because they are genu- and recently became a re- ine silver and over 100 tiree, just like his parents. years old,” Tracy said. Life in Saudi Arabia “was “As you may know, easy—it was an adventure,” Texas horsemen had said Harry. “Everybody loves Top: Posing in front of a logo highlighting the company’s ties with Texas are, spurs on their boots from left: Stan and Peggy McGinley, Eric and Janice Madsen, and Tom and Kathy an adventure,” Joyce chimed so they could urge their Owen. Above: A film screened at the reception showed Saudi students in Houston in. “I think it was a very good horses to go faster and who pitched in to help homeowners hard hit by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. journey for us at the beginning faster. The symbolism of our marriage.” here is that you are working to move Saudi al relationship…which continues to grow, “That’s why I’m here today,” she Arabia into the future at a faster pace.” develop and diversify as we continue to said. “I support the crown prince in his Tracy also noted that, as a 12-year-old work together as a single community.” journey.” in Dhahran in 1947, he’d shaken hands Jungers, who joined the company in with the crown prince’s grandfather, King 1947 and is Aramco’s last living Ameri- Harry and Joyce Wolf, whose time with the company dates to the 1950s, enjoyed the Abdulaziz Al Sa‘ud, and that he’d also can CEO, echoed that remark. “It was reception. “I support the crown prince in his shaken hands with his father, King Salman very nice for the crown prince to visit the

journey,” Joyce said. HANSON JOHNNY BOTTOM: RICHARD DOUGHTY; ALLRED; BELOW: ROBERT TOP: ibn Abdulaziz, in Washington, D.C., company’s Houston ofﬁces,” he said after in 2015. “So now that you’re here this the reception. “It is very important for Ar- evening,” he told Crown Prince Moham- amco and the older Aramcons—and I’m med, “I’ve met three generations of Saudi happy to be part of that group.” royalty.” Ali Baluchi was equally pleased to be Al-Falih made a similar point in his among the guests at the reception. The al- remarks. “Our company’s roots lie in a Khobar native joined Aramco in 1949 and Saudi-American partnership that began in retired as manager of Community Services the 1930s and is reﬂected in the name of in 1970. He has led three “homecoming” the company, the Arabian American Oil reunions in the kingdom for expatriate Company, or Aramco,” he said. retirees and their families, and is planning “We appreciate the dedication of the fourth. American men and women who helped to “It was nice to see so many friends in build Aramco over many decades and who Houston,” he said. “I was able to whisper made a lasting contribution to our national in the crown prince’s ear about the 2019 re- prosperity in the kingdom…. union in Saudi Arabia. He said, ‘Very nice!’” “This afternoon, we celebrate a bilater- The oldest retiree at the event was

16 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah UNIQUENIQUE Messagessag of t Oill Strike MMark

BY ARTHUR CLARK

When Daniel Yergin, founder of Cam- discovery, came from the archives of Chev- bridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), ron, Socal’s successor. welcomed Saudi Aramco President and CEO “There is nothing out of the ordinary oc- Amin Nasser to CERAweek by IHS Markit curring here in the general course of our busi- on March 5, he wished him a happy 80th ness,” Berg told Hanna. “However, we are anniversary of the kingdom’s first commer- all very much hopped up over the results of cial oil strike, quoting from two little-known tests made on our deep drilling in Arabia.” letters that shed new light on the discovery At 4,726 feet, Dammam No. 7 had tested “at at Dammam Well No. 7. the rate of 5,800 barrels per day…” CERAweek is the premier annual gath- “We are now preparing to deepen some ering of energy experts and officials in the of the shallower wells which are somewhat CERA founder Daniel Yergin (left) welcomes United States, and the letters highlighted a distant from the new well to determine the Saudi Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser to the podium at CERAweek by IHS Markit on remarkable development in the oil world. extent of the field,” he wrote. March 5, eighty years to the week after the “While ‘one swallow does not make Yergin also quoted from a letter by Wil- discovery at Dammam No. 7. a Spring,’ I am rather encouraged to feel liam J. Lenahan, Casoc’s government liaison that in this instance one oil well will make in Jiddah, to Lloyd N. Hamilton, the Socal kingdom in 1938 was “only possible be- an oilfield…,” Standard Oil of California lawyer who had negotiated the oil Conces- cause of an incredible partnership between (Socal) President W. H. Berg wrote to R.W. sion Agreement in 1933. On Oct. 30, 1938, an American geologist, Max Steineke, and Hanna, a Socal vice president, on March Lenahan said he had visited King Abdulaziz his Bedouin guide, Khamis ibn Rimthan. 14, 1938. The California Arabian Stan- to inform him of the commercial oil strike. They always seemed to know where to go dard Oil Company (Casoc), established by “Some of my people have been telling me next and what it would take to get there.” Socal to operate its concession in the king- that oil in large quantities would never be He went on to discuss the challenges fac- dom, had struck oil at Dammam No. 7 on found in my country…but I always thought ing today’s petroleum business, calling it March 3, 1938. they were wrong,” the king replied. “an industry at the heart of the much larger Nasser, who delivered a keynote address “The Americans had even more impor- global economy.” And he offered solutions titled “The Real Future Facing the Petro- tant news,” Yergin said, drawing from the including expanded exploration, investment leum Industry,” thanked Yergin for “re- letter. “Saudi Arabia was now shipping in infrastructure and enhancing and develop- minding us of that historic breakthrough 5,000 barrels of oil per day [from al-Khobar ing technologies, as well as challenging as- 80 years ago this week.” He pointed to the to Bahrain]…and the greatest news was that sumptions about the speed with which alter- early American-Saudi partnership that en- Saudi Arabia had become the 22nd-largest natives will penetrate markets. In closing, he abled the company to achieve success near oil producer in the world.” hearkened back to the spirit that brought in today’s Dhahran. “Well, I think we could all agree it’s gone Dammam No. 7. Berg’s letter and another by a Casoc rep- higher—much higher,” Yergin quipped as he “Ours is the industry of Spindletop and resentative describing King Abdulaziz Al- welcomed Nasser to the podium. shale, of Manifa and Ghawar, of Steineke Sa‘ud’s reaction upon receiving news of the Nasser told Yergin that success in the and Khamis,” he said. “As they knew 80 years ago, and as Americans and Saudis Saudi Arabia’s first commercial oil well, near today’s know today, going the extra mile together Dhahran, is shown in this rare photo from the collection of when others are starting to write us off is the Aramco President and CEO Tom Barger. On the back, in his best way of making our own history.” handwriting, is the caption, “Well #7—the Discovery well.”

17 103103033 Year-Old RETIREE RECALLS OldOld PlacesPlaces a FacesFaces By Arthur Clark

he shook hands with Sa‘ud ibn Abdulaziz when he was crown prince and again when he was king, watched pearl divers pull treasures from S the Gulf and has a “favorite memory” of walking through al-Khobar’s sandy streets on Fridays off from work in Dhahran.

Now 103-year-old retiree Johnnie Mer- That redoubled her interest in recon- ritt is aiming to remake company connec- necting with people from the place she tions at the Annuitants Reunion in Aus- had landed seven decades ago. tin, Texas, in September—and perhaps at Merritt and her husband, Jim, a re- the Expatriates Reunion in Saudi Arabia tired Aramco pilot, met Judy and her next year. spouse, Bill, at a campground in Califor- Merritt, who worked in Dhahran from nia on New Year’s Eve 1997. Despite the 1948-70, read about the reunions in the generation-wide gap in their ages, they last issue of Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah. “Her kept in touch over the years—especially ﬁrst comment was, ‘Do you think there after the Merritts moved to San Antonio, might be any way to attend?’” said Judy Herman, a friend who put her in touch Top: At her interview in San Antonio, Texas, in January, Johnnie Merritt wore a brooch made with the magazine. with a pearl she purchased while working A ﬁlmed interview followed at Mer- in Government Relations. Right: She joined ritt’s retirement facility in San Antonio. Aramco in 1948. TOP: ARTHUR ARTHUR CLARK TOP:

18 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah found. “Women were either going home or out to the districts to be employed.” Merritt spent her entire career in Dhahran, however, something she does not regret. “We could make our own meals in our accommodations,” she said, adding that she usually “went to the Dining Hall, with Hailing from Oklahoma City, Merritt only an occasional special meal “always wanted to see the world,” when we were inviting someone a dream she made come true as an into our dorms or apartments. I Aramco employee. did too much overtime to stay in the kitchen. ‘Men wanted for Saudi “The Dining Hall food was delicious” Arabia,’” she recalled. “I and in the early days free, making the said to myself, ‘Hmm, I “long walk” there after work worthwhile. always wanted to see the Early in her career, employees only got world.’ It said ‘Men,’ but Friday off. When Merritt had the chance, I thought, ‘Surely they’re she enjoyed “shoofing” with fellow em- going to be taking in ployees in the desert. women.’” “We’d find some friends who, luck- So she hopped in her car ily, could get a little old car and we’d go and drove to Tulsa for an prowling in the desert to find pottery interview. When she finally shards. I loved the freedom of all those a four-and-a-half-hour drive north of the found the Aramco recruiters, they hired open spaces. You kept your eyes on the Hermans’ home in McAllen. her. “Within a short period, something ground to see what interesting things you Jim Merritt, who flew for the company over a month, I had to report to New could find—the remnants of other people from 1955-70, died in 2015, and the Her- York and then to Saudi Arabia on a char- who lived there.” mans and Johnnie Merritt have become ter flight,” she said. even closer friends since then. Her family was taken aback by her Photos of Dhahran, past and present, stirred “Johnnie mentioned that she recog- decision. “They couldn’t believe I was many memories during Merritt’s interview nized individuals in the photo that ac- going,” she said. “They never expressed with Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah. companied the article about the Expatri- their opinion, but I could tell they were ates Reunion,” said Judy. One was Ali scared.” Baluchi, who joined Aramco in 1949 and Merritt said she’d “always been a retired as general manager of Commu- dreamer of travel and read a lot of books nity Services in 1990. instead of doing other things when I was “He was a little office boy, carrying young. I always wanted to see the world papers and things around and running to know what it’s like on the other side... errands [when I knew him],” said Mer- and it’s been a wonderful trip.” ritt, who worked first in the steno pool, Even her first flight to the kingdom then moved to Engineering, Personnel was exceptional: She was the only wom- and Government Relations. an on a plane with around 60 construc- She also remembered Ali Al-Naimi, tion workers. “I was treated very nice- who was an office boy around the same ly!” she said. time as Baluchi, rose to the positions of When she finally landed in Dhahran, president and CEO, and became minister no one was there to welcome a new female of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. employee. “Since my name was Johnnie, “I had less contact with him because he Personnel in Dhahran wouldn’t believe had his nose to the grindstone all the time that a woman was coming in on that flight, when you went by his desk, it seemed,” she which arrived at midnight,” she said. said. “I didn’t talk to him much.” Fortunately, another Oklahoma City Merritt was 33-year-old widow with girl who was already working in Dhahran experience as a teacher and in the news- was able to help her. Merritt spent the first paper business when she joined Aramco night in her new friend’s quarters before as Johnnie Rusher. moving into a five-woman residence, later “I was reading the paper one Sunday graduating to an efficiency apartment. in Oklahoma City and just by chance “There was always quite a turnover in I looked at the want ads and one said, the occupants of company quarters,” she BOTTOM: JUDY HERMAN JUDY BOTTOM:

19 The camels have it: Merritt (right) and her colleague, Lillian Robertson, visited the Pyramids by camel in 1958; and this 1960 Dhahran Airﬁeld “officer’s mess” card, with a camel logo, brings back fond memories.

ing and investigating things than I did buying things.” Among her favorite memories of al- Khobar are “walking through the sand streets…having to pull my feet out of the sand to make the next step. I can still see the little merchant sitting in his little kiosk She also participated in the women’s Only men had done that job before. with a shutter that pulled down to close synchronized swimming team coached She helped new arrivals clear Customs his shop when he went home at night. by fellow employee Florence Chadwick, and introduced them to their departments. “I also loved being able to walk along who became the first woman to swim “Meeting the people and getting out of the al-Khobar beach and the lovely Gulf the English Channel in both directions— the compound into the community” were waterfront, to walk in the sand and dip my from England to France in 1950 and from the best parts of the job, she said. “You finger in the water. We’d take a sandwich France to England in 1951. felt like you were part of the community and have lunch sometimes out there. Chadwick was “all business” in the when you went down there. [It gave me] “We would also go in groups down to pool, said Merritt, but the results—exhib- a closer love of the country.” Aziziyah Beach and to Half Moon Bay for ited to the public at the Aramcocade— Part of that love was kindled when she recreation—walking through the dunes, were worth the hard work. met Crown Prince Sa‘ud in the Dhahran getting in the water with the boats and Merritt first served as secretary to the Theater in the late 1940s. She met him on trying out the Gulf.” head of the Engineering Dept. When she another occasion in the Dining Hall when Sometimes the Gulf came to Merritt. moved to Personnel, she worked for Wal- he hosted women who had earlier invited ter Reese. In Government Relations, her him for tea. “That was the time he took me Jim Merritt flew Beaver, DC-3 and F-27 boss was John R. Jones. by the hand with both of his hands, held aircraft during his 15-year Aramco career. One of her assignments in Personnel mine and shook hands,” she remembered Opposite: The Merritts delighted in meeting old friends at the Annuitants Reunion in was to greet new employees at the airport. with a smile. “It was a very warm greeting.” Coronado, Calif., in 1972. That was a company “first,” she said. “When he came to the compound it was always very interesting to observe Merritt joined the synchronized swimming the routines…and to look at the falcons team in Dhahran. She is fourth from left, top, on the 1948 Aramcocade cover. sitting on the lawn at the guest house with their trainers,” she said. After Sa‘ud became king, Merritt went with a group of executives’ wives accompanying their husbands to Riyadh in “one of the first groups of women ever invited to the palace,” she said. “We all put on our long sleeves and longest dress- es we had.” She particularly enjoyed taking a company bus to al-Khobar and riding the train from the station near Dhahran’s old main gate “all the way to the end” of the tracks in Dammam in the early 1950s to fish from the Dammam Pier. “Al-Khobar was our favorite place,” she said. “It was the only place to shop, but I did more walking around and look-

20 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah When she spoke to Al-Ayyam Al- There, on a little hill covered with pieces Jamilah in January, she wore the fruit of of quartz crystals, “you’d just see sparkles, such a rendezvous on her lapel: a pearl sparkles, like diamonds,” she recalled. she had purchased in Dhahran from On her right hand she wore a smaller a merchant named Khalifa. A jeweler ring inscribed with “Johnnie” in Ara- in Amsterdam later mounted it as the bic, acquired on her first trip outside the “blossom” nestled in white-gold leaves kingdom in 1949. That’s when she took sparkling with tiny diamonds. a ferry to Basra, at the head of the Gulf, “Pearl merchants came through our and met a little boy who put her name on offices in Government Relations, sat by the ring. my desk, watched me type and asked me “He was sitting by himself when the a question once in a while,” she said. ferry landed and he didn’t know a word “They made themselves comfortable be- of English,” she said. They still managed cause they loved my boss and therefore to communicate, but she almost missed were always nice to me. the return trip when, just as the lad was “After a bit, they would pull out a finishing his work, the ferry captain start- pack of pearls and just lay them out. I ed furiously tooting his horn to depart. liked the shape of this one.” She also has a deep affection for Egypt. Arab “storytellers” also spent time She traveled there with a secretary named Johnnie Merritt celebrated her 103rd birth- in the offices. They came from different Lillian Robertson in 1958, as captured in day—her first birthday party ever—with 135 parts of Saudi Arabia, “verbally giving a picture of the pair on camels in front of guests in San Antonio on Aug. 22, 2017. directions, names and helping to identify the Pyramids. places in areas of the country” to assist When they arrived around midnight help out of the jump seat, [so he] put us in mapmaking, she said. “They always at the Mena House, next to the Pyra- into his plane and flew us to Shiraz, the fascinated me.” mids, “I said, ‘Before we go to bed we’d City of Roses” she said. Merritt’s connection to the kingdom better pull these drapes and see what’s That was a very pretty part of a trav- went deeper than meeting pearl merchants there.’ We opened them and there was el trajectory that took her around the or storytellers. She recalled a trip aboard the Sphinx!” world eight times and to 64 countries, a dhow where she and her companions Cairo is especially close to Merritt’s she reckoned. sat on the deck “watching divers hold- heart, perhaps because an Aramco em- Merritt never got to the Sahara Des- ing onto a rope go down to the bottom ployee there escorted her and Robertson ert, as she’d planned, so did not have the of the Gulf and pick up shells in a bucket on that trip. “He traveled with us and chance to see the sands that would have and bring them in. Then we would look at showed us all the different things, even a reminded her of Saudi Arabia. But she and them separate the pearls from the shells.” nightclub, which we thoroughly enjoyed,” her husband did attend the 1972 Annui- Merritt’s jewelry told other tales, too. she remembers. tants Reunion in Coronado, Calif., host- On her left hand she wore a large, beauti- Going to the Dhahran Airport one ed by Warren and Myrle Hodges, which fully cut Qaisumah diamond she’d found day in April 1955 to meet a planeload of brought back pleasant memories. on a trip to the town north of Dhahran new arrivals turned into something close “We had a chance to see people we‘d at the head of the Trans-Arabian Pipeline. to her heart, too. One new employee known and reminisce,” she said. TOP: JUDY HERMAN JUDY TOP: was Jim Merritt, fresh out of the Marine If it is not possible to do that again in Corps. He had been in the last flight of Dhahran next March, when she will be U.S. fighter-bombers to cross the demili- 104, then she has already penciled in a tarized zone between the two Koreas just couple of days at the Annuitants Reunion before the armistice in 1953. in Austin this September. Though she won’t be drawn on the That will likely spark memories of the question of whether it was “love at first “marvelous experience” she had in the sight,” it’s obvious that the pilot impressed kingdom and reinforce “a beautiful feel- her. After he’d finished his orientation they ing about the whole number of years I stayed in touch and became good friends spent there,” she said. through social channels at Aramco. “I often think about the whole story “We made our own activities in the [of my time at Aramco] and it feels like company,” Merritt said. “We had lots of a dream…about people getting along,” get-togethers in our little apartments, in- she added, pointing to the deep Saudi- viting in newcomers.” She and the pilot American connections forged in the shared a love of the desert and outings kingdom. “I wish that would continue there gave them some “personal time.” because together we have done a won- Upon their retirement in June 1970, derful thing for the whole world by pro- they traveled to Bahrain and got mar- ducing this bonanza of oil that Saudi ried. Then, as luck would have it, a plane Arabia has. I hope we can always be “came along and the pilot had kicked his friends.”

21 Company Alumni Feature in AramcoWorld Accolade

Two former Aramcons recently featured in a tribute to AramcoWorld by Brownbook, a hip, Dubai-based magazine that calls itself “an urban guide to the Middle East and North Africa.” Brownbook dedicated its November-December 2017 issue to Saudi Aramco’s ﬂagship publication, praising its work “to piece together a cultural and historical narrative of the Middle East.”

InIn additaddition to proﬁling AramcoWorld, the magazine as a writer, reviewer and In the 1960s and ‘70s AramcoWorld the magazine republished 17 stories from reader, was intense. “It was like we began to explore Saudi Arabia through thethe 1960s to the 1990s exactly as they were working on a book project,” she the photography of men like Aramco’s appeared.app Brownbook is a cultural bi- said. “You breathed it, you lived it, you chief photographer, Burnie Moody, and monthlymon like AramcoWorld, but—just a dreamt of it at night.” Khalil Abou El Nasr, a Palestinian who decadedeca old—it is a newcomer compared Today, along with the print edition, worked in the Photo Unit before setting withwith Saudi Aramco’s 69-year-old journal. which has 50,000 subscribers in 125 up as a freelancer in Beirut. “In“ a publishing environment where countries, AramcoWorld publish- columncolu inches are increasingly dominated es online at www.aramcoworld. by the reregion’s politics, AramcoWorld’s com and produces a biweekly thoughtful, lyrical long-form articles in- e-mail newsletter. It also presents stead consider such subjects as the history translations of its stories in ﬁve of Arabic-language newspaper presses in languages and offers access to New York or the art of perfume making back issues and images. on a jasmine plantation just outside Cai- Brownbook traced the maga- ro,” wrote a Brownbook editor. zine’s story from its birth as a Along with a conversation with four-page in-house newsletter at AramcoWorld Editor Richard Doughty, New York headquarters in 1949. the issue published interviews with “As the oil company’s American contributors including retiree Bill Tracy, workforce in Saudi Arabia grew,” a former assistant editor, and poet it said, AramcoWorld “began Nimah Nawwab, a former Aramcon. running articles to introduce them Her father, the late Ismail Nawwab, to their new surroundings.” helped guide the magazine toward its modern form when he was manager of Public Relations in Dhahran in Longtime AramcoWorld writer, reviewer and reader Nimah Nawwab the 1970s and ‘80s and then general compared her association with the manager of Public Affairs. magazine to “working on a book Nawwab said her involvement with project.”

22 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah AramcoWorld Editor Brownbook traced the magazine’s Richard Doughty, left, transformation from local to global to its printer’s representative move from New York to Beirut in 1964 Curtis Weeks and graphic designer Matthew Bromley and the arrival of Paul Hoye as editor. check an issue of the Tracy signed on assistant editor in 1967, bimonthly magazine at the keeping the job for a decade. printing plant in Houston. The magazine moved to Aramco Overseas Company in Holland in the tern that continues today mid-1970s, during the civil war in Leba- online and via social non. Rob Arndt took over as editor after media. Hoye died in 1986 and directed the mag- Tracy wrote as well azine’s move to Aramco Services Compa- as edited at Aramco- ny in Houston in 1990. World, and his travels Brownbook quoted from Tracy’s story as an author half a cen- marking the magazine’s 50th anniversary tury ago would put him in 1999 to highlight its “intercultural” in harm’s way today. focus. “Nobody at the time [it was estab- “I went far out into the lished] was thinking in terms of ‘cultural desert of Syria, to Pal- diversity,’” Tracy wrote. “In retrospect, myra,” he said. “It was it is remarkable that that the foundation a full day’s drive away of AramcoWorld’s intercultural approach from most of Syria’s big was so soundly laid so early on. Then, as towns on the coast. today, the magazine’s message was that “Back in the 1960s people are not all the same, but that their it was an adventure. I BROWNBOOK differences are of mutual interest.” camped the ﬁrst time I AramcoWorld in the ‘60s built a net- went because there were only small ho- Asir Province, back before they had a work of contributors by “word of mouth tels and none of them had free rooms. paved highway, and the Rub‘ al-Khali

TOP: COURTESY TOP: COURTESY and friends of friends,” Tracy said, a pat- “I also traveled in Saudi Arabia’s Desert. I went to Yemen and toured all the places along the border with Saudi Arabia. In those Bill and Marjorie Tracy posed in front of the Roman days people would go back waterwheels on the Orontes River in Hama, Syria, in 1993 and forth across the bor- when he was on an assignment to research and write a der without even thinking story about Crusader castles for AramcoWorld. about it.” Tracy and his wife, Mar- jorie, have retired to Spo- kane, Wash., but he still keeps his hand in at Aram- coWorld. The last story he wrote, in 1993, was about Crusader castles in Syria. “I still write [book] re- views fairly often and I get to keep the book, which is fun,” he told Brownbook. “I just reviewed a new auto- biography by Ali Al-Naimi, who joined the company at age 12 and wound up becoming its ﬁrst Saudi president.” “We’re both 82, so I followed his career—I knew him and talked to him and saw him blossom and grow.” He might well have said the same thing about AramcoWorld.

23 Who was the Her parents were Annette and Schuy- ler B. “Krug” Henry. He and Robert “Bert” Miller, pioneered exploration by Standard Oil of California (Socal) in ‘First Brat’? Saudi Arabia in September 1933. He met Annette Rabil in July 1934 in Dhour el- Choueir in the mountains of Lebanon, ARTHUR CLARK By where geologists had retreated from the Saudi heat after their ﬁrst season in the kingdom to study their notes. They married in Beirut that summer. Neither Mitzi Henry nor the other girls who arrived in 1937 (nor John Kes- singer nor Charlie Rodstrom) stayed long in the region. Shortly after the company struck oil at Dammam No. 7 in 1938, Krug Henry went to work for Standard Oil in Cairo. In 1939, Mitzi’s brother, Michael, was born in Beirut. In October 1940, after an Italian war- plane headed for Bahrain bombed Dhah- ran by mistake, the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc), operat- ing for Socal in Saudi Arabia, evacuated many of its expatriate employees and all dependents. Mitzi and her family returned to kingdom after World War II, and she appears in photos of the ninth- grade class in Ras Tanura in 1949 and Girl Scout activities. She died in 2000, survived by her Who was the original “Brat?” It’s not as clear as you might think. mother (who died two years later), and two children, Mimi and Matt.

Based on date of arrival, four kids could qualify. The Energy Within, Saudi Aram- Mitzi Henry John Kessinger co’s photo-history book, says Mari Lou The youngest of the “first Brat” quartet John Kessinger was not only the first baby “Mitzi” Henry, Marilyn Witherspoon, was Mitzi Henry, age two. A story about born in Dhahran, but also the first U.S. and Marian and Maxine Steineke were her published in Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah citizen born in the kingdom. Bill Lenahan, the first expatriate youngsters to live in in 2000 said she was “the first American head of Casoc’s Jiddah office, sent a tele- eastern Saudi Arabia. They landed with child to live in Dhahran.” gram to the Kessingers on Aug. 8, 1940, their mothers at al-Khobar Pier to rejoin congratulating them “on the occa- their dads in September 1937. sion of the birth of your son—the Based on birth in the kingdom, John first American child to be born in R. Kessinger takes the cake. The son of Saudi Arabia.” Arthur and Beatrice Kessinger, he was A document headed “CASOC the first baby born in Dhahran’s original HOSPITAL, Dhahran” testifies hospital, across the street from the old to John’s birth. A birth certificate baseball diamond on King’s Road, on from the U.S. Consulate in Bagh- Aug. 8, 1940. (Janet Norma Harryman, dad dated Nov. 10, 1940, formal- the daughter of Joe and Ferne Harryman, ized the matter. was born there later that year, becoming the first American girl born in Dhahran.) Top: Mitzi Henry sits bottom left at Charlie Rodstrom has a more tan- a Girl Scout-Boy Scout picnic at Ras gential “birthright” claim. The son of Tanura in October 1949. Standing (l-r) are: Nancy Bradfield, Dottie Mayfield, Charles (“Rod”) and Alice Rodstrom, he Jane Fraser and Jon Mandaville. Judy was born in 1936 in Bahrain. His direct Mandaville is middle left. Left: Mitzi is company connection dates to 1939. pictured with her parents, Krug and Annette Henry. TOP: T. F. WALTERS; BOTTOM: COURTESY MIMI ROHR BOTTOM: COURTESY WALTERS; F. TOP: T.

24 SPRING 2018 Far left: John Kessinger, the first American born in Saudi Arabia, on Aug. 8, 1940, is held by his father, Arthur. Left: John Kessinger, a Florida retiree.

visit alongside Life magazine photographer David Douglas Duncan. In 1948 Rod Rodstrom transferred to Aramco’s New York office when Charlie completed the ninth grade in Bahrain. He retired in 1971. Today, Charlie and his wife, Brenda, live After Dhahran was in Wilmington, N.C. His brother, Bob, lives bombed in 1940, the Kes- in Springfield, Ore., with his wife, Fran. singers moved to California, In talks about his time in Bahrain and where John’s brother, Ronald, and twin representative in Bahrain. Saudi Arabia, Charlie likes to capture the sisters, Jettie and Ethel, were born in Charlie’s sister, Muriel, was born that attention of listeners by explaining that 1941 and 1943, respectively. same year in the United States during he “experienced a bombing raid, had my Following assignments with Socal af- a family stay and his brother, Bob, was mother arrested as spy, was onboard a filiates there and in Venezuela and Egypt, born in 1940 after the family returned ship that hit a mine and got to tag along Arthur Kessinger—a driller—transferred to Bahrain to rejoin Rod. En route by with a Life photographer” chasing a king back to Dhahran in 1949. His family sea from California his mother was ar- before he’d even turned 12. “That’s hard joined him in 1951. rested as a spy in Kobe, Japan, for taking to top,” he says. John, a retired banker who lives with pictures, Charlie remembers. But she So, who was the “original Brat?” his wife, Sara, in Dunedin, Fla., recalls his pleaded that she’d left her children on a You couldn’t go wrong by picking all of surprise when men planted plugs of grass ship in the harbor and was released. the above. in the yard of his family’s Dhahran du- In 1941 Alice and her children re- plex—508B. “I was amazed how quickly turned to the United States after the the dirt yard became a lawn,” he says. Italian bombing raid. Charlie, his mom He also remembers his days as a Boy and his brother traveled back to Bah- Scout, the first year of Little League base- rain to rejoin Rod Rodstrom in 1945. ball in Dhahran in 1953, attacks by locust His sister had died in a tragic accident swarms and the time his father brought when their father was visiting in 1942. home a jerboa he’d found in the field. The family’s return trip on the liner “My mother came home from visit- Gripsholm turned into an adventure ing the neighbors and woke my brother after it hit a mine in the Mediterranean and me up and asked us what was in the Sea and “limped into” in Naples, says can that had been covered by the screen, Charlie, recalling that he made friends which was now lying on the floor,” he with fellow passenger Miles Snyder, says. “When we replied it was a jerboa, who had evacuated from Saudi Arabia or a kangaroo rat, she immediately went with his family in 1940. “Miles and I into the kitchen and climbed in a chair, formed a club on the ship called ‘The claiming she wouldn’t get down until the Useless Lump of Legless Landlubbers,’” jerboa was out of the house. Needless to he remembers with a chuckle. say, the jerboa became an outside pet.” All finally got places on a former The Kessingers departed Dhahran— troop ship to Alexandria, Egypt, sans jerboa—when Arthur Kessinger traveling on to Cairo and flying to retired in 1958. Bahrain. The family a spent 1946-47 in Dhahran, where Rod managed the Residential and Personal Services Dept. Charlie Rodstrom A highlight of that time was King Ab- Charlie Rodstrom didn’t actually arrive in dulaziz Al Sa‘ud’s visit to Dhahran in Dhahran until 1946, but he has the deepest November 1947, when Charlie used his family roots in the region. He calls his time Brownie camera to take pictures of the there “the adventure of my life.” His father, Rod, moved from Socal’s Above: Charlie Rodstrom appeared in a Life San Francisco headquarters to Bahrain magazine story about King Abdulaziz Al Sa’ud’s visit to Dhahran in November 1947. in 1932—the year before Socal signed Right: He posed, right, with his brother, Bob, the Concession Agreement to search and his wife, Fran, and his old friend, Miles for oil in the kingdom. In 1939 he Snyder (seated), at an event honoring King started his company career as the Casoc Salman’s visit to Washington, D.C., in 2015. BOTTOM: ARTHUR CLARK BOTTOM: ARTHUR

25 TODD NIMS Filmmaker

COMPANY ‘KIDS’ boarding in Tunisia. Shot less than a year after the revolution there, its production MAKE involved Scarritt and classmates Nathan WAVES Gray and Jake Hunter. In 2015 he produced Children of the CARRIE NORTON World for the Center for World Culture. It won a Silver Dolphin at the Cannes Systems Change Corporate Media and TV Awards Fes- Advocate tival and two gold medals at the New York Festival. Winning those “was really exciting,” he said. Children of the World consists of 21 films capturing a day in the life of young people around the globe. Five episodes focused on different regions of Saudi By Arthur Clark Arabia. Other sites included the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, Costa Rica, Australia, India, Nepal and BRAT’S RETURN TRIP to South Korea. The demanding project had two teams filming simultaneously. KINGDOM WINDS When he went solo in 2017 he “hit the through the ground running,” he said. Born a HOLLYWO OD King, which he coproduced with Oscar- winner Andrés Vincent Gómez, was already well under way. The movie is The path from Houston back to Saudi Arabia about the 1919 mission to Britain by 14-year-old Prince Faisal ibn Abdulaziz transits Hollywood—if you are filmmaker Todd Nims. to advocate for the establishment of a nation under his father, King Abdulaziz. The Riyadh-based 1995 graduate of the ‘80s. “It was fulfilling to connect more Released this year, it was shot in Riyadh Dhahran Schools was in Houston visit- with that age group.” and London. ing his parents, Don and Cherry Nims, at Meeting filmmakers in Hollywood also Nims is also mounting his own out- Christmastime when he met Dan Norton proved a positive experience, enabling him reach program to promote filmmaking. (DH79) at a gathering hosted by Norton’s to build contacts in the industry. Nims He travelled back to the kingdom im- classmate, Amy Steindorf. Then, since he founded AB Media, a consultancy in mediately after visiting Hollywood to was travelling to Hollywood to see others Houston, and is a partner in the entertain- participate in the annual Winter Enrich- in the film business and Norton lived in ment-media company Holam (“Jello”) in ment Program at King Abdullah Univer- Berkeley, Calif., he arranged to meet him Riyadh. He worked as the film producer sity of Science and Technology (KAUST), and about a dozen other “kids” who had at the King Abdulaziz grown up in or around Dhahran. Center for World Cul- Their graduation dates ranged from ture in Dhahran from 1977 to 1999. “It was wonderful to 2010-17. have the different generations” get to- In 2012 Nims pro- gether, Nims said, with a nod to his first duced Push Tunisia, film—Home, The Aramco Brats’ Story— a prizewinning short which he produced with his brother Zach film about skate- (DH98) and Matt Miller (DH91). Just one person at the Hollywood A mainly Dhahran Brat party on Jan. 11, his classmate, Sean crowd gathered with Todd Nims (DH95) in Scarritt, appeared in Home. But there Hollywood in January. was good chemistry all around. In fact, He stands back right Nims said meeting Norton and his with (from left) Dawn generation of schoolmates provided a Meyers (‘77), Saudi “missing link” for him. filmmaker Aysha Ustora, Michelle Pippin “I know a lot of the much older (‘83), Dan Norton (‘79), Brats, like Bill Tracy and Steve Furman, Sylvia Kochinsky (‘99), and my own age and younger,” he said, Katheryn Bwye and but not many from the late ‘70s and Keith Nietupski (‘95).

26 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah an hour’s drive north of Jiddah Todd Nims joined with Abdullah Al Eyaf to make Joud, the King on the Red Sea coast. On opening Abdulaziz Center for World Culture’s day, Jan. 14, he sat for an inter- first feature film, scheduled for view and screened his elegiac film release this year. Joud, shot entirely in the kingdom. Then he advised groups of could see this film. Joud gave me graduate students as they made a fuller appreciation of how big their own films. and wide the extremes are here.” Nims and Abdullah Al Eyaf “There’s a certain magic to produced Joud, the first feature Saudi Arabia that you experience film by the Center for World Cul- here with the people and places, ture. It was made in association and I think some of that comes with The Edge Picture Company through in the film,” Nims noted. in England. Nims then introduced around A short segment of the 70-min- 50 students to filmmaking and ute film is set at KAUST, an ex- advised them on how to capture ample of “higher education and some of their own “magic” in a technology…in the petri dish” of “Science of Storytelling” work- modern Saudi Arabia, Nims said. shop in which he partnered with So he gladly accepted the univer- An Ancient Poem for Modern Times two KAUST Ph.D. scientists and sity’s invitation to take part in the one filmmaker. The students enrichment program. formed teams and each made a

Joud, which has no dialogue www.joudmovie.com ©2017 King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture film in just three days. but features a dynamic musical Nims got his biggest rush score, won robust applause at when he got students to shed their KAUST. It is slated for release this year. surface of everyday experience to see how pedantic approach to problem-solving The film is patterned visually on a form life is giving, even when some feel like it’s and let their imaginations take over. Such of pre-Islamic verse called the qasidah, or taking away,” Nims said. It portrays “the thinking led to one video called “Harry ode which rhymes on the final syllable of lifecycle from death to birth” rather than Potter and the Missing Protein.” Another each line. Nims called the movie “a visual the other way around. saw six female marine biologists march- poem” set to music. The filmmaker said he knew the film ing down the hallways in Scuba gear in a “The music is very raw, very authentic had struck a chord in his KAUST audience “kind of weird, funny and a little quirky” and very local,” he said. A combination of of more than 200 when Saudis and expa- way of telling their story, Nims said. local Saudi tapings with electronic music, triates peppered him with questions about Nims hopes to take filmmaking by sci- it was recorded by the London Contem- it afterward. He summed up the reac- entists a step farther. “I’d like to get the porary Orchestra. tion of foreign students in the response of university involved in actually making Joud “is asking you to look below the one who said he wished “people at home Ph.D. students do a film as part of their theses as a way to share their re- The filmmaker presented the movie Joud at the Winter Enrichment Program at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology on Jan. 14. Then he teamed up with KAUST personnel to teach a filmmaking class. search with the world,” he said. What’s on his plate now? Among other things, he wants to make VEG, a self-published sci-fi book by his brother, Zach, into a film and a game. Presenting Joud at film fes- tivals, including Cannes, is also high up on his to-do list. Who knows? Maybe both projects will be prizewinners.

27 COMPANY ‘KIDS’ MAKEVES WA

and by the food industry. That means NORTON Receives that the chemicals and fertilizers used to FELLOWSHIP grow that food are also wasted, as is the fuel used to transport it. Overproduction, or production on a to Help ENTREPRENEURS Build non-sustainable basis, depletes the soil and often consumes vast quantities of GREENER, STRONGER water, frequently causing water shortages in nearby communities. ENTERPRISES Similarly, power generation benefits from the use of renewable fuels by help- By Jane Waldron Grutz ing to ensure a cleaner environment and by creating entirely new industries. In Carrie Norton’s view, environmental Thousands of jobs have been created by switching to solar and wind energy, help- and social issues are closely related and can be ing local communities and the economy tackled together—given the right kind of planning. as a whole, Norton says. For a firm to take full advantage of The daughter of Mary Norton and the Her work there consists largely of co- the benefits of sustainability, however, it late Howard Norton, and a 1984 Dhah- ordinating with companies to create must develop a company-specific busi- ran Schools graduate, Norton recently business plans that are environmentally ness plan—one that takes into account received a three-year fellowship from friendly and make a profit. a relatively new concept called systems The Academy for Systems Change (ASC). Norton brings a strong background in change, Norton explains. The fellowship will help her establish a environmental studies to her work. She The concept views businesses as a large project that is not only environmentally holds a degree from Trinity University in system composed of many smaller sys- friendly, but people-friendly as well. And San Antonio, Texas, as well as an MBA tems. Alter one subsystem and it impacts Norton has just such a project in mind. from Arizona State University’s Thun- other subsystems. Creating business plans Focusing on the Central Valley of derbird School of Global Management that take this phenomenon into account California, an area with some of the in Glendale—a school committed to pro- helps assure long-term success, she argues. most concentrated agricultural activity in moting sustainable prosperity worldwide. As an ASC fellow, Norton will be able America, she will work to help would-be As Norton explains, a sustainable to consult with global leaders from di- entrepreneurs develop business plans to company is one that limits its use of verse industries to help entrepreneurs cre- make their initiatives productive, profit- natural resources to help reduce waste, ate sustainable companies for the Central able and sustainable in the long term. thereby increasing profits. A good exam- Valley. She hopes their success will ben- Norton is an entrepreneur herself. ple is food production and distribution. efit not only the entrepreneurs, but the Long interested in how business can af- In the United States and many other valley as a whole, by creating a greener, fect the environment, she established developed countries, enormous amounts healthier and more productive place for Green Business BASE CAMP in 2012. of food are thrown away by consumers residents to work and live. For more information about Norton’s Carrie Norton coaches a budding entrepreneur about planning a business that addresses Central Valley project, visit www.green- environmental and social issues, and makes a profit, too. She established Green Business BASE businessbasecamp.com or contact her at CAMP in 2012 to help companies establish environmentally friendly operations. [email protected].

28 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah SAUDI AMBASSADOR THANKS

Saudi Aramco’s Antiquities Homecoming Project won praise from Saudi Ambassador Khalid ibn Salman after a ceremony honoring a cross-section of artifact donors at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 8. The project kicked off in 2011 and more than 40 retirees and others with ties to the company have returned archeological artifacts they collected prior to the establishment of a museum network in the kingdom. Nine donors attended the event, which coincided with the First National Antiquities Forum in Riyadh.

“We“ aarerere humbledhumu edd bbyy and extend deep grati- about a presentation to her archeology class Gordon Golding represented his parents, tuttudeu e ttoo [[theththe ddonors]noro s]s for their commitment to at the University of California, Berkeley. “I Marny and Bert Golding, at the embassy. hehhelpinglppining thehee KKingdominingddomo of Saudi Arabia safe- was thrilled to receive a reply,” she said. They donated their discoveries to the Na- guguarduara d its history,”hisstoory,” said Prince Khalid. “As He recommended she consult publica- tional Museum in Riyadh. When Bert Gold- ththehe NNationalal AAntiquitiesntiq Forum underscores, tions by Aramco geologist Hal McClure ing retired in 1984 they received a letter ththehe pprotectionon ooff historical artifacts feeds and Aramco schoolteacher Grace Burkhold- from Minister of Education Abdullah Masry into the preservation of a country’s national er. He also suggested separate publications thanking them for their “unquestioning real- identity. We are thrilled to be showcasing about the necropolis at ‘Ain Jawan, north ization that the physical results of your inves- our history for those in our country and of Dhahran, by Aramcons Richard Bowen tigations belong the Saudi people and should around the world.” and Rick Vidal. be entrusted to them.” Prince Sultan ibn Salman, president of the Barger’s children, Tim and Ann, returned Those honored in Washington, D.C., Saudi Commission for Tourism and National a number of his finds to the National Mu- along with Myer, Cashion and Golding, Heritage, hosted the three-day forum. Its open- seum in Riyadh in 2001. The Barger Col- were: ing was simulcast during a luncheon for the lection there includes a stele inscribed with Cynthia Castain, daughter of Russ and donors and each received a certificate of appre- Greek characters, discovered at Madain Sa- Eleanor Nicholson; Betty Kingsley, daughter ciation signed by Prince Sultan. lih in 1968, that proved a Roman presence of Lucille and Franklin Lynn; Kathye Dun- The forum aimed to “foster public on the Arabian Peninsula farther south than smore, daughter of John and Mary Neally; awareness of the importance of national previously known, some 1,900 years ago. Kathleen Casey, whose grandmother’s heritage and antiquities, familiarize attend- Honoree Mary Cashion, who taught husband, J.S. Mason, worked for Aramco ees with Saudi history and make clear that first grade in Dhahran from 1964-72, do- in the 1960s; Marian Ferguson, whose hus- the preservation of antiquities is a commu- nated two collages Burkholder had made band, Ken, joined Aramco in 1953; Ann nity responsibility,” said Haya Al-Hossain, from pottery shards, bracelet pieces and Boon Rhea, who lived in Dhahran with her cultural liaison at the embassy. beads that she found in the Eastern Prov- husband, James, from 1964-76; and Arthur “It is a testament to the strength of Saudi- ince in the 1960s and ‘70s. Clark, editor of Al-Ayyam Al-Jamilah and U.S. relations that such an exchange of ar- Burkholder and Marny Golding discovered coordinator of the Antiquities Homecoming tifacts can take place,” she told the donors. potsherds near the Gulf that showed connec- Project. Ray Whitney, president of the Ara- “We take immense pride in the historical tions with Mesopotamia’s ’Ubaid civilization bian Natural History Assn. in Dhahran in and cultural legacy of our Saudi, Arab and as far back as 5000 BCE. the 1980s, attended as a special guest. Islamic heritage.” The honorees included individuals with ties Nine participants to amateur archeologists in Saudi Aramco’s whose work in the king- Antiquities Home- dom dated back more coming Project—a than half a century and cross-section of some included several remark- 40 artifact donors— learned more about able discoveries. Saudi traditions from Nina Myer, who Information Officer donated artifacts discov- Maram AlKharboush ered by her mother, Hope at the Saudi Embassy McBride, and her brother, in Washington, D.C., in November. Honorees Buzz, near Jubail and Ho- included (from left) fuf in the 1960s, brought Betty Kingsley, Kathye a 1973 letter from retired Dunsmore, Nina Myer, Aramco President and Cynthia Castain and CEO Tom Barger. She Kathleen Casey.

ARTHUR CLARK ARTHUR had written to Barger

29 IN MEMORIAM

MARY FRANCES ADAMS to Diane Bray, Leslie, Amy and Brent. JANIE L. HAAS December 17, 2017 November 25, 2017 Predeceased by her husband, retiree CHARLES C. BRUMLEY Survived by her husband, Gordon, and Ben Adams. December 22, 2017 daughters Jenell and Jill. She was well He joined the company in 1980 and known for her needlepoint classes in BETTY ANDERSON retired in 1991. Survived by children company communities. Correspon- December 17, 2017 Cheryl, Donna and Charlotte. dence may be sent to Gordon at She joined the Controller’s Div. at Ar- [email protected]. amco Services Company in Houston in ANITA J. CANDLER 1977 and retired in 1995. Survived by October 11, 2017 TERRY I. HAMBLIN children Janis, Janet, Donna and Dave. Predeceased by her husband, retiree December 22, 2017 Correspondence may be sent to the Jerry Mullin, whom she joined in the He joined the company in 1973 and family c/o Kingwood United Method- kingdom in 1953. Survived by children retired as an assistant superintendent ist Church, 1799 Woodland Hills Dr., Mike, Kerry and Trice. Correspondence in the Power Distribution Dept. Sur- Kingwood, TX 77339. may be sent to the family c/o Cypress vived by his wife, Carol, and daughters Creek Baptist Church, 21870 North- Bonnie and Andrea. DR. RODDY “ROD” ANDERSON west Fwy, Cypress, TX 77429. October 12, 2017 DOUGLAS L. HAMILTON He joined Aramco in 1979 as a dentist KENNETH D. CAREY December 3, 2017 in the Main Dental Clinic in Dhahran. January 30, 2018 He worked as a dentist in Dhahran In 1984 he became supervisor of the He joined Aramco in 1977 as a from 1977-88. Survived by children Dhahran North Dental Clinic. He retired computer operator and departed in Betsy, Greg and Ann. in 1994. Survived by his wife, Cheri, 1985. Survived by his wife, Oriel, and and sons Anthony and Christopher. children Denise, Kent and Kendra. ANN HANUSHEK Correspondence may be sent to Cheri October 6, 2017 at P.O. Box 481, McCall, ID 83638. JAMES “JIM” CORLEY She taught fifth grade in Dhahran and October 11, 2017 retired with her husband Jim in 1998. LOIS BAUMANN He joined the company in 1971 Correspondence may be sent to Jim at January 29, 2017 and retired as a senior consulting [email protected]. Predeceased by her husband, retiree engineer in 1991 to return to his Hilbert “Hib” Baumann, and survived hometown of Lucedale, Miss. There EMANUELITA “LITA” JOHNSON by children Christine and Jeffrey. The he volunteered his time and bound- August 10, 2016 family lived in Abqaiq and Dhahran less energy to a variety of community Predeceased by her husband, retiree for 23 years. She was a fourth-grade projects, and he was honored Aug. 4, Rupert Johnson, who joined Aramco in teacher’s aide and a Girl Scout leader, 2017, at Lucedale’s “Jim Corley Day.” 1948. They met and married in Rome earning the highest scouting-leader- Survived by his wife, Nancy, and chil- and made their home in Abqaiq in ship award. Correspondence may be dren Steven, Michael, Brent, Carolyn, 1955. After they moved to Dhahran sent to Christine Baumann Lillesand, Becky, Kent and David. Correspon- in 1963, she became a well-known 4809 Jade Ln., Madison WI 53714. dence may be sent to the family c/o dressmaker. Survived by daughters Sigler Funeral Home, 4248 Main St., Marisa Micio and Romana Johnson. JOHN BEARD Lucedale, MS 39452. Correspondence may be sent to Marisa August 14, 2017 at 767 E Pony Ln., Gilbert, AZ 85295. He joined Aramco in the early 1970s JAMES ALEC DAUGHERTY and taught sixth grade in Dhahran, January 29, 2018 RICHARD A. JOHNSON transferring in 1978 to Aramco Servic- He worked in Finance and Accounting December 18, 2017 es Company in Houston, where he re- Systems in Dhahran. Correspondence He joined the company in 1978 and tired from Human Resources in 1993. may be sent to his family c/o Hudson- retired from Finance in 2002. Survived Survived by his wife, Christine, who Phillips Funeral Service, 301 E. Main by his wife, Juana, and children Chris- may be contacted at 7545 West Forev- St., Holdenville, OK 74848. topher and Melissa. Correspondence er View Dr., Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814, may be sent to Juana at 1890 W. 25th or [email protected]. LORRAINE Q. FUNKE Ave., Eugene, OR 97405. January 15, 2018 DR. ROBERT BLANKENSHIP She worked in the San Francisco and MAXINE JONES February 22, 2018 New York offices between 1947-54. January 11, 2017 He worked for 17 years at Aramco. Predeceased by her husband, Walter. She lived in Abqaiq with her husband, Survived by his wife, Monica, and Correspondence may be sent to the Ken, and children Kenneth, Dennis children Erin, Kevin and Meghan, and family at [email protected]. and Dixie, in the late 1960s. three children from his first marriage

30 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah LUCILLE LYNN ALPHA V. MOONEY Kristine Jalot. Correspondence may October 12, 2017 February 14, 2018 be sent to Leslie at 15 Drakes View Predeceased by her husband, retiree Predeceased by her husband, John. Circle, Greenbrae, CA 94904, or Franklin Lynn, and survived by daugh- She joined Aramco in 1950 and [email protected]. ters Arleen, Betty and Carol. She par- worked as a keypunch operator. ticipated in the company’s Antiquities FRANK PIETROWSKI Homecoming Project and was honored NORMAN MURRELL March 13, 2018 at a ceremony by Prince Sultan ibn February 9, 2018 He joined the company as a civil engi- Salman, president of the Saudi Com- He joined Aramco as a schoolteacher in neer in Dhahran 1944, moving to the mission for Tourism and National Heri- Dhahran in 1964 and transferred in 1974 San Francisco office in 1948 to assist tage, in Washington, D.C., in 2012. to Aramco Services Company in Houston in transferring company headquarters Correspondence may be sent to Betty to establish the orientation program for to New York. Later assignments took Kingsley at fl[email protected]. new employees. He returned to Dhahran him to Sweden, Italy, Holland and in 1978 and retired from Exploration Texas. He retired in 1985. In 2010 he RUTH S. MAISE in 1986. He was active in the Dhahran donated a four-foot-long dhow model July 30, 2017 Theatre Group. Survived by his wife, Libby, he had purchased in 1945 to the King Survived by her husband, retiree Dick and children Mitch and Mary. Corre- Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Maise, and children Charlene and spondence may be sent to Libby at 4304 Dhahran. Prior to traveling to Dhahran Eddie. Dune Doings, the couple’s self- Spring View Court, Mariposa, CA 95338. it appeared in the exhibition, “The published book about their quarter- Dhow, Mystery of the Monsoon,” century in Saudi Arabia (1958-83), DR. ANDRAOS NICOLA at the Institute for Arab and Islamic appeared in 2002. Correspondence November 10, 2017 Studies at Exeter University. Survived by may be sent to the family c/o Oak He worked as a physician at Aramco, sons Frank and Ray. Correspondence Grove United Methodist Church, 1722 where he met his wife, Dora. Survived may be sent to the family c/o Earth- Oak Grove Rd., Decatur, GA 30033. by children Walid, Magda, Anwar and man Funeral Directors, 8303 Katy Fwy, Andrew. Correspondence may be sent Houston, TX 77024. SHEILA M. MARK to the family c/o St. Katherine’s Greek RICHARD L. RENNER November 10, 2017 Orthodox Church, 2150 West Front Survived by her husband, retiree St., Burlington, NC 27215. October 9, 2017 Robert Mark, and daughter Kristy. She He joined Aramco in 1972 and retired was a teacher’s aide in the ‘Udhaili- JIM L. NIX as superintendent of Offshore Opera- yah, Abqaiq and Dhahran elementary October 2, 2017 tions in 1987. Survived by his wife, schools from 1992-04. Correspon- He joined Aramco in 1970, working Francisca, and children Sandra, Mary, dence may be sent to Robert at as an engineer in Saudi Arabia and at Lorena, Scott and Dan. Correspon- [email protected]. Aramco Services Company in Houston. dence may be sent to the family c/o Survived by his wife, Betty, and children Hollenbeck-Cahill Funeral Homes, 33 EVELYN MCGREAL Gerry, Kim and Marilyn. Correspon- South Ave., Bradford, PA 16701. January 17, 2018 dence may be sent to Betty at 15915 She was a nurse in Dhahran from Ellendale Ct., Cypress, TX 77430. RICKY W. RITCHIE 1960-63, and returned to work at November 11, 2017 King Faisal Specialist Hospital in GUL PANJWANI A CPA, he worked for Aramco from Riyadh in the early 1980s. She shared December 15, 2017 1988-16. He was director of the memories of life in the kingdom He joined Aramco in 1979 and retired Dhahran chapter of the Harley Owners and traveling in the region through as business manager, N. Area Projects, Group. Survived by daughter Morgan. programs in Parkville, Md. Correspon- in 2002. Survived by his wife, Chandu, Correspondence may be sent to the dence may be sent to her niece, Patsy and children Arti and Sameer. Cor- family c/o Deberry Funeral Home, 2025 Beall, at [email protected]. respondence may be sent to Arti at W. University Dr., Denton, TX 76201. [email protected]. KENNETH G. MILLER JOSEPH SCHONS February 9, 2018 GEORGE PAPP November 3, 2017 He joined the New York office in September 30, 2017 A process engineer, he worked in Ras 1951, transferring to Aramco Over- He worked as a technical writer in Tanura from 1962-71, the New York seas Company in The Hague in 1953 Dhahran for 17 years. Survived by his office (1971-73) and Dhahran (1978- and to Saudi Arabia in 1961, working wife, Lillian, and daughter Sharon. 85). Survived by his wife, Doris, and in Abqaiq, Dhahran and Ras Tanura. children Michael and Pat. Correspon- He retired in 1966 as construction DAVID G. PATTERSON dence may be sent to the family at engineer/project manager. Survived by September 2, 2017 5021 Stagecoach St., Tyler, TX 75703. children Patricia, Michael, Robert and He worked for Industrial Security James. Correspondence may be sent from 1989-98. Survived by his wife, OTELA “TELA” SEIM to Michael at [email protected]. Leslie, and David and Lori Patterson, March 8, 2018 Frank and Daniel Polizzi, and Lisa Survived by her husband, retiree Ted

31 IN MEMORIAM

Seim, and children Sherri, Stephen, kingdom from 1980-85. Diane, Christine, Carol and Merritt. Scot and Shana. She was active in the The couple met in Florence, Italy, in Dhahran Theatre Group. Correspon- JANET UPOLE 1949, married and lived in Dhahran dence may be sent to the family c/o January 4, 2018 until 1951. Correspondence may be Christ Lutheran Church, 5150 River She worked as a staffing accounting sent to the family c/o Geneva Presby- Lakes Pkwy, Whitefish, MT 59937. analyst in the International Payroll terian Church, 1229 E. Fairmont Ave., Group at Aramco Services Company in Modesto, CA 95350. DOROTHY B. “DOTTIE” Houston from 1981-04. STEINHEIMER JEANETTE N. WATKINS November 2, 2017 ANNETTE VANDERSLICE October 11, 2017 She transferred in 1953 from the New August 7, 2012 Predeceased by her husband, Russell, York office to Saudi Arabia, where Predeceased by her husband, retiree and survived by children Wade and she met her husband, David. Survived Jack VanDerslice, and survived by Melanie. by children Carol, Jane and Richard. children Christine, John, Margery, Correspondence may be sent to the Anne, Jim and Laura. Correspon- NICHOLAS WIDHAMMER family c/o Blessed Trinity Roman dence may be sent to Margery at October 3, 2017 Catholic Church, 1600 54th Ave. S, [email protected]. He was a special teacher at Aramco St. Petersburg, FL 33712. from 1985-93 and returned to the CHUCK WALTERS kingdom from 1994-04. Correspon- ELLA S. TATE January 14, 2018 dence may be sent to his community September 3, 2017 He joined Aramco in 1957 and retired at Sippel Funeral Home, 1311 Thorp Survived by her husband, Fred, and chil- as chief engineer in 1982. Survived by Street St., Cloud, WI 53079. dren Janet and Julie. Correspondence his wife, Nieki (Leonie), and children may be sent to the family c/o Tennessee Melora, Karina and Peter. Correspon- MARGARET (JEPSON) WILLIAMS Baptist Children’s Homes, Inc., 1310 dence may be sent to Nieki at 201 December 7, 2017 Franklin Rd., Brentwood, TN 37027. Vanderpool Ln. #157, Houston, TX She joined Aramco in 1977, assigned 77024, or [email protected]. to the steno pool, and retired in 1990 MARIE “SISSY” THACKER to Derbyshire, England, to join her October 23, 2017 DORIS WANTY husband-to-be, John Williams, who Predeceased by her husband, Jim, and January 6, 2018 also had worked for Aramco. survived by children Melissa, Becky, Survived by her husband, Mike, who Phyllis and Amy. The family lived in the joined Aramco in 1947, and children

‘JEAN LOVED ARABIA’

Jean Dell’Oro, whose husband, Walt, joined Aramco as a petroleum engineer in 1947, died Oct. 10, 2017, two days after she had fled from her home in Santa Rosa, Calif., to escape a wildfire. “The home burned down without her knowing it,” destroying the family’s pos- sessions from several decades in Saudi Arabia, said her son, Torr. Walt Dell’Oro remained in Saudi Arabia for five years before moving to Canada to work for Tidewater/Getty in Regina, where he met Jean. They married in 1955 and moved to Dhahran in 1956, where they stayed until 1980 when Walt retired as manager of Exploration. “Jean loved Arabia and its people, loved to shop in al-Khobar and bargain with the Saudi merchants in Arabic. She always won on her price,” her son said. She was active in scouting, participated in the establishment of the Arabian Natural History Assn. and enjoyed camping in the desert, “always bringing food treats to Bedouins that she would meet,” he added. Along with Torr, she is survived by her daughter, Tam. Correspon- dence may be sent to Torr at [email protected].

Jean Dell’Oro ventured to Dhahran with her husband, Walt, in 1956, remaining until he retired in 1980. She and her husband—like Doris Wanty, above—were members of the Aramco Old-Timers group of retired or former Aramcons who had joined the company before 1950. NESTOR SANDER NESTOR

32 SPRING 2018 Al~Ayyam Al~Jamilah TIM BARGER—A SAUDI ARAMCO-AMERICAN WITH A MISSION

By Arthur Clark

Tim Barger died Feb. 15, 2017, at his home in Vista, Calif., leaving a legacy of projects to promote an awareness and understanding of the Middle East. The son of former Aramco President and CEO Tom Barger and his wife, Kathleen, he was born in Dhahran on Sept. 18, 1947—the seventh child delivered at the Aramco hospital on King’s Road. He joined a sister, Annie, and a brother, Michael. Three sisters, Mary, Norah and Teresa, followed. “Tim was unique,” said Steve Furman, who as a nine-year-old met Barger just days after he was born and remained a close friend. Furman called him a “free spirit,” noting that as a kindergartner he played hooky for a month, befriending local gardeners and construction workers and freeloading lunches. When he was found out, “his mother was livid,” Fur- man said, escorting her son to kindergar- ten every day after that. Tim Barger received a certificate of appreciation from Prince Sultan ibn Salman, presi- Barger recounted such tales through his dent of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, in Riyadh in 2012, for teenage years in Arabian Son, 21 Stories, returning archeological treasures to the kingdom. “Tim expressed his joy of living in and published by his Selwa Press in 2014. He exploring Saudi Arabia in many ways…and he will be greatly missed,” Prince Sultan said also included recollections of the Saudi upon learning of his death. Arabia he saw through more mature eyes after returning from the United States in first wife, Janet MacDonald. The couple sion for Tourism and National Heritage, the mid-’70s to work at King Faisal Special- and their two children, Khamisah—named when they returned several important ist Hospital in Riyadh and then establish a after Khamis ibn Rimthan, a Bedouin artifacts collected and preserved by their video-electronics company Jiddah. guide who assisted the first oil prospec- father before the country had established Barger’s trademark sense of humor and tors—and Luke (later joined brother Sam) a museum infrastructure. He returned to his sense of history permeated his stories. lived in the kingdom for several years. Riyadh in 2012 when Prince Sultan wel- Writing about his birthplace, in what be- They returned to California, where Janet comed a larger group of antiquities donors came the Women’s Exchange run by the died unexpectedly in 1982. with company connections. Dhahran Women’s Group, he said, “You Barger later married Sydney Fate, the Late in 2017 Barger donated his fa- can well imagine how my mother used to daughter of Aramco executive Don Fate, ther’s photo collection, dating to the daydream about taking me back to the and they established Selwa Press. Its 1930s and including some unarchived exchange for a Waring blender.” first book, Out in the Blue: Letters from images, to Saudi Aramco. He was in the Tom Lippman, whose book, Arabian Arabia 1937-1940, published in 2000, is process of returning more archeological Knight: Colonel Bill Eddy and the Rise of a compilation of Tom Barger’s letters to artifacts to Saudi Arabia when he died. American Power in the Middle East, was Kathleen, who had remained in America. Barger understood the unique position published by Selwa Press in 2008, said After Sydney died in 2002, Barger of the Americans who knew Saudi Ara- Barger wanted people to understand the continued Selwa Press, whose new titles bia firsthand, through Aramco, saying in place where he grew up. included Ibn Saud, King by Conquest, by Dhahran in 2008: “We’re not Saudi-Amer- “Tim didn’t get into the publishing busi- retired Aramco geologist Nestor Sander; icans, nor are we American-Saudis; maybe ness because he expected to make a ton The Unfurling, by Aramcon Nimah Ismail we are Saudi Aramco-Americans.” of money,” he said. “He did it because he Nawwab; and Burning Issues, Understand- That status gave him a special respon- loved Saudi Arabia, its history, its people ing and Misunderstanding the Middle sibility, one that he furthered by promot- and the American experience there, and East—A 40-Year Chronicle, whose editors ing intercultural understanding in word he wanted his fellow Americans to know included retiree Bob Norberg. Selwa Press and in deed. about it. It wasn’t just the books—the old republished Discovery! The Search for Ara- He is survived by his children, photos that he turned into postcards and bian Oil, by Wallace Stegner, in 2007. Khamisah, Luke and Sam; sisters Annie notepaper were treasures.” In 2001 Barger and his sister, Annie Hebert, Mary Barger, Norah Barger and Barger graduated from boarding school Hebert, were welcomed at the National Teresa Barger; and brother Michael. Cor- in Wisconsin and attended Santa Clara Museum in Riyadh by Prince Sultan ibn respondence may be sent to Annie at University in California, where he met his Salman, president of the Saudi Commis- [email protected]. ARTHUR CLARK ARTHUR PLEASANT DAYS SPRING 2018 THE MAGAZINE FOR RETIRED ARAMCONS PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAI D Houston, TX Permit No. 625

ISSN-1319-1512 Aramco Services Company Public Affairs Department Two Allen Center 1200 Smith St. Houston, Texas 77002

Celebrating 50 Years… By Recreating History

Annuitants Grace and Bob Banta (center and left center) celebrated their golden wedding anniversary March 16 on the cruise ship Caribbean Princess, reenacting their wedding 50 years before aboard a sailing yacht off Diamondhead, Hawaii, at exactly the same time as the original event (4 p.m.). Norman Lachapelle, who gave Grace away at the original wedding, stands second from right and his daughter, Celeste, left. Caribbean Princess Captain Marco Fortezze is right. Bob and Norman—Navy ofﬁcers at the time of the wedding—dressed in the same uniforms they had worn 50 years before. The Bantas and their children, Angelique and Marlon, lived in Abqaiq (1982-85) and Dhahran (1985-00). Bob spent his career in the Mechanical Services Shops Dept.; Grace was a casual employee in Industrial Security and the Aramco Schools. They celebrated their 25th anniversary in Dhahran.