The tennis tournament directed by Charlie Holland began at 8:30 a.m. on another beautiful day at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort in Tucson, Arizona. Other activities planned for Sunday were a duplicate bridge tournament that began at 1:00 and another showing of the film ARABIA presented by Hugh Renfro.
Golfers were out of bed early on Saturday to join Bob and Christy Maxwell on the golf course at the beautiful Starr Pass Country Club.
Rick and Rianne Chimblo, hosts of this year's Saudi Aramco Annuitants Reunion - Hafla 2012 - could not have chosen a more beautiful setting for the reunion retreat. The JW Marriot Tucson Starr Pass Resort and Spa is nestled within 50 acres of lush land across the Tucson Mountain Park.
Janny Slotboom (Tapline 1965-1980 and Ras Tanura 1980-1990) will celebrate a milestone birthday on November 9th, 2012. She will turn 80 and her daughters Monique and Arleen want to do something special for her. They would like to present Janny with birthday cards from all her Aramco ExPats friends.
Petra: A Brief History by David W. Tschanz, is an easy-to-read, popular history of one of the world’s most fabled cities and the mysterious people who built it. This is the ideal book for anyone who wants to know the entire story behind the "rose red city half as old as time," and the little known Nabataeans, who carved Petra from the living rock of Jordan's Sharah Mountains.
In September 2011, a massive wildfire scorched 34,000 acres in Bastrop, Texas destroying 550 homes (Read More). Among those unfortunate home owners were Aramco annuitants Jay and Karen Holland.
Do you understand your ARAMCO Savings and/or Retirement Plans? Have you met with Reilly Financial Advisors yet?
In the late 1940s and early 1950s Dhahran, Saudi Arabia was a bare bones oil town in the middle of nothing but desert, a very different place then the Dhahran of today. There were no trees or lawns, no radio or television, and few amenities beyond the recreation center.
Mr. Kirk Peterson has been teaching at Udhailiyah School for the past 10 years. He had the opportunity to travel to the Philippines this past December during the winter break. He worked in the Philippines for two years in the mid-1970’s when he was 19 years old.
Frank Reilly is president of Reilly Financial Advisors, a La Mesa, Calif.-based investment-adviser firm. I work in a family business with my father, who started advising clients abroad thirty-seven years ago when his neighbors moved to the Middle East to work as schoolteachers.
Following the relaunch of Aramco ExPats, you might have noticed a new feature on our homepage. The Speakers Bureau is an educational resource that will allow Aramcons to share information about the rich history, culture, and industry of Saudi Arabia with their communities at home.
On Sunday, July 10, 2011, members of the Unitarian/Universalist Church of Hot Springs Village, Arkansas presented a program discussing the history, geography, religion, and politics of the Middle East.
I first arrived in Saudi Arabia in 1946 with my parents, Gerry and Dolores Kennedy (Badge #125), and two siblings, Mollie and Terry. I was one of the 13 kids in Ras Tanura who opened the school in 1946 in the old Mess Hall with Mr. Sam Whipple as teacher and principal.
In 1983, I went on a weekend trip with the Jeddah Square Dance Club, "The Red Sea Squares," to Dhahran to attend a hoedown.
For the past nine years, the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, in conjunction with the Joseph J. Malone Fellowship in Arab and Islamic Studies, has offered American professionals in academia, government, the military, non-governmental organizations, business, religious institutions, the media, civic associations, the fine arts, humanities, and the social sciences a chance to explore Oman.
More than ever before, people today are taking a keen interest in their families, going back generations. Witness the phenomenal popularity and growth of genealogy. Aramcons are not immune from the family history bug. Being that every Aramcon annuitant is part of a giant extended family with branches around the world, the search for information on one’s forebears can produce rich results.
Many Aramcons may be familiar with Ben Mayeri of Isfahan, Iran, one of the greatest metalsmiths of modern times. He was featured in National Geographic. In fact, oil rig operators used to have their hard hats engraved by this master craftsmen.
Reilly Financial Advisors (RFA) is the only U.S. wealth management firm dedicated to serving the needs of the American expatriate community of Aramco. As CEO, Don Reilly's son, Frank, prepares to assume more comprehensive leadership of the firm. We asked Don to reminisce about his more than a third of a century of service.
Greetings! Having just returned from the recent Aramco Expatriate Reunion in Orlando, Florida, we wanted to just say how lovely it was to see many of you!
To all Orlando Hafla 2010 Attendees: First of all let me thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming to the Reunion. You all made it happen, you all contributed to its success. The committee chairs, the committee members were fantastic; you all did such a marvelous job, that I just wasn't needed.