"Dear Folks": Chapter 7
The remainder of 1948 is full of exponential growth for Aramco (more than 4,000 American and 17,000 Arab employees by mid-year), royal and military visits, and a social schedule that would cripple most.
"Dear Folks": Chapter 6
1948 shapes up to be another boom year for the Aramco. Mildred Webster continues to chronicle her family's lives and interesting tales from Arabia. Ken Webster even manages to augment her faithful correspondence with a letter about some of his responsibilities as manager of Aramco's construction department.
"Dear Folks": Chapter 5
Mildred Webster continues to be a faithful correspondent as she settles into the new house in Dhahran, works on committees and keeps up with the increasing “social whirl” that is expected of the wife of an up-and-coming Aramco executive.
"Dear Folks": Chapter 10
Mildred Webster continues to be a faithful correspondent as she settles into the new house in Dhahran, works on committees and keeps up with the increasing “social whirl” that is expected of the wife of an up-and-coming Aramco executive.
"Dear Folks": Chapter 4
Mildred Webster, the official family “correspondent,” starts off the New Year of 1947 with a full report on Christmas activities in the camps, hopes for the family’s first home leave later in the year, and observations about her husband’s “playing” the Roupee market in Bahrain.
"Dear Folks": Chapter 3
The summer and fall of 1946 turn out to be eventful times for Aramcons. Mildred Webster reports on a polio scare and resulting quarantine in Dhahran; Fourth of July celebrations in the camps; the continued arrival of wives and children from America; Arabia’s first American schoolhouse and the formation of the first Girl Scout troop in the Kingdom; and the growing sense of “family” among the Aramcons in Ras Tanura and Dhahran.
"Dear Folks": Chapter 2
“It seems like we’ve always been here…” Mildred Webster (known to family and friends as “Mimi”) proves a very thorough, observant and entertaining correspondent.
The Webster Letters Revisited
Every now and then, AramcoExPats.com strikes gold with one of its features. Such was the case back in 2007 when we published a series of letters written by the late Ken Webster, who began his long service with Aramco in 1944, with World War II still raging.
"Dear Folks": Chapter 1
Ken Webster began his oil industry career in 1931, shortly after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.
The Night of the Hamoor
I’m fairly certain that there is no statute of limitations for crimes against humanity. I can only plead not guilty on the grounds that it seemed like the thing to do at the time. Actually it is much better to think of this story as entirely a work of fiction, and any resemblance to anything that happened in Dhahran during the summer of 1964 is entirely coincidental.
The Double-Shot Solution
With Lou Reed’s passing and so many people discussing his impact on the contemporary culture of the 60s I can’t help but to remember the first time I ever heard the Velvet Underground. It was in Dhahran when I was 19.
The Island of the Arabs
In the early fifties, Aramco began an intensive effort to combat the number one public enemy in the Eastern Province, the fly. A massive mosquito eradication program had been very effective in reducing the incidence of malaria in the region, but DDT alone wasn’t enough to reduce the fly population. What was required was a change in public behavior.
"Dear Folks": Chapter 15
Newly crowned King Saud arrives in Dhahran for an extended stay during the first week of January 1954, followed by a long hunting trip throughout the Kingdom. Dhahran District Manager Ken Webster reports on His Majesty’s visit in detail and continues his regular family correspondence describing daily Aramco operations and newsworthy developments.
Saudi Aramco Celebrates 75 Years with King Abdullah
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.
King's Visit to Aramco A Royal Affair
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.
Men of Aramco: Part 2
John Lunde, Assistant to the Chief Engineer, is a veteran of 18 years of Company service and has spent a total of 12 1/2 years in Saudi Arabia. This U.C. graduate from Vallejo, California, was able to find other alumni here even in January 1939 when he arrived in the Field. The previous year Lunce wintered in Alaska while on a Socal wildcatting venture.
Men of Aramco
Distinguished by being both the first Montanan and first redhead in this column, Scott Harrison, senior surveyor, General Office Engineering, has been in Saudi Arabia 12 ½ years.
Out in the Blue: Letters from Arabia 1937 - 1940
In 1937, Tom Barger left North Dakota and Kathleen, his young bride of two weeks, to seek his fortune as a junior geologist in a remote desert country. Out in the Blue is the story of the people he met and the places he explored in Saudi Arabia - before there was oil.
The First King of Saudi Arabia
On 1 May 1939, after dinner with him in the new mess hall, I gripped briefly the scarred, long-fingered, sinewy hand of the first king of Saudi Arabia: Abdul Aziz ibn Abdur Rahman ibn Faisal ibn Turki as Saud.