I must say I had a great time at the Aramco Reunion in Las Vegas. Being able to meet with current clients, old friends and acquaintances who I have come to know during my visits to the Kingdom over the past 34 years, was a pleasure.
On Wednesday, October 1st, the final night of the 2008 Annuitant Reunion, Jabal Las Vegas, 1,000+ attendees gathered for the traditional Gala Festival at Paris Hotel and Casino. Pre-dinner activities once again included a cocktail hour with a formal photo opportunity to help commemorate this year’s reunion with your closest Aramcon friends.
So life goes on; one chapter ends and another begins. Since our arrival, we had been going at a pretty fast and exciting clip, especially while the kids were there, but on reflection, at that time, we didn't think it was nearly as nice as it had been when we lived there 19 years earlier.
Mollie Kennedy Brooks cried. Steve Furman sported a mile-wide grin. And Caryll Hayden Goodale fainted. Those were just a few of the reactions of the 29 “kids” who shook hands with King Abdullah ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz onMay 20 in Dhahran, 61 years after meeting his father, King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, at almost exactly the same spot.
The Really Old Old-Timers Reunion was held in the Spanish restaurant, El Patio Español in San Francisco on Sunday, April 20th.
Sheri (MH Wahba) Anderson sent us this wonderful photo of her Dhahran Girl Scout troop, taken in the late 50s or early 60s.
Tim Barger, son of former Aramco President & CEO, Thomas C. Barger, was invited, along with 30 other children of early Aramco employees who also grew up in the Kingdom, to help celebrate the company’s 75th Anniversary. On May 20th, at a dinner hosted by Saudi Aramco President and CEO Abdullah Jum’ah, Tim gave a speech about his experience growing up as an American youth in Saudi Arabia. He has given us permission to share his words on Aramco ExPats.
Saudi Aramco celebrates 75 Years of Excellence at the Grand Event Tuesday, May 21st. Saudi Arabia's beloved King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, the sixth king of Saudi Arabia, visited Dhahran to take part in Saudi Aramco’s 75th anniversary celebrations.
In Nabeul, even the butcher shops are decorated with multicolored tiles. A hugely oversized, colorfully glazed jar rises in the center of the city's main traffic circle, making it clear that Nabeul is all about pottery. Walk the streets and you'll think you've stumbled into an outlet mall devoted to pottery and ceramics.
In late 1948, when young Amy Ward was visiting her parents’ home in Short Hills, N.J., her father suggested that she apply for a job at Aramco, whose predecessor Casoc (the California Arabian Standard Oil Company) he’d known many years before.
DHAHRAN, January 02, 2008 -- More than 230 national and international professionals representing the oil and gas, petrochemical and water industries, as well as academia, discussed topics in corrosion and materials failures at the 2007 Materials Engineering and Corrosion Control (ME&CC) Technical Exchange Meeting.
The Udhailiyah Jebel Dining Hall was elaborately decorated with a Latin theme June 21 in honor of the Latin Fiesta Night thrown there. The fun-filled evening included Piñata for the young and dancing to Latino beats for the old(er).
One soggy afternoon in late 1935, a stranger stepped out of the rain into the lobby of Superior Oil’s west coast headquarters in Los Angeles, Calif. 'Joe Mountain to see Russ Gerow,' he announced.
Pickled Shrimp
Karen and Albert Fallon will host the next Saudi Aramco Annuitant's Reunion which will be held in Las Vegas at the Paris Hotel and Casino, right on the heart of the Strip.
"We had an extraordinarily interesting day with Ibn Saud, who is one of the most striking personalities I have encountered. He is splendid to look at, well over 6'3", with an immense amount of dignity and self-possession.... As a leader of irregular forces he is of proved daring and he combines with his qualities as a soldier that grasp of statecraft which is yet more highly prized."
Among the many Aramco events that take place heralding celebration and much fanfare, the visit of the King and other members of the royal family to an Aramco camp continues to be an event for the record books.
At noon on Sunday, April 15th, the ‘Very Old’ Old Timers (all in Arabia before 1950) held their annual get-together at the well-decorated El Patio Español in San Francisco. It was a pleasure for the seven of us who were there. And the buffet lunch was scrumptious beyond the most Lucullian of expectations.
Some 400 Saudi Aramco annuitants, retirees, Brats and business contacts turned out at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Md., in October for the third annual retiree reception and dinner hosted by the Washington, D.C., office of Aramco Services Company. The event was part of the company’s program to help maintain the strong connection between Saudi Aramco and its retirees.
It’s been 17 years since Jo Watts left Saudi Arabia, but the former Aramcon is still playing in the mud. She has recently opened a pottery studio in Smithville, Texas; however, her path towards becoming an artist began long ago.