Catherine Elizabeth Schaub
Aramco retiree Catherine Schaub, longtime secretary to John Kelberer in Dhahran, passed away July 27, 2014 in Temple, Texas.
Catherine Schaub Retires to Austin, Texas
Catherine E. Schaub, widely known at Aramco as the secretary to former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John J. Kelberer, departs Dhahran April 8 for retirement in Austin, Texas, after a 33-year career.
Schaub, who hails from Elizabeth, N.J., joined Esso Research and Engineering Co. in 1956. She transferred to Aramco, two years later. Traveling aboard the company plane Flying Gazelle, she arrived in Dhahran on July 14, 1958. Not only was it Bastille Day in France, but also the day a military coup established the Republic of Iraq, making international headlines. Schaub had arrived suddenly in the sometimes turbulent though captivating crossroads of the world, the Middle East. It would be her home for the next 31 years. Along the way, she would work for some of Aramco's foremost experts on the region.
Soon after her· arrival, Schaub was dispatched to Jiddah as the secretary to the deputy company representative, Harry McDonald. Later to become general manager of Government Relations, McDonald "had a memory like a steel trap," recalls Schaub. He was the first in a whole string of Government Relations experts who would rely on Schaub's skills. In November, Schaub returned to Dhahran in the newly established Government Relations Policy and Planning group.
"That was the start of one interesting job after another," she says.
In 1971, Schaub was assigned to an up and coming Tap line transplant named John Kelberer, who was on a developmental assignment with Aramco as acting general manager of Government Relations. The association was short-lived due to rotating assignments for Kelberer. But in 1974, when Kelberer returned from New York as a vice president and director of the company, Schaub became his secretary again. She remained so for the next 15 years.
In late 1977, shortly before Kelberer officially became chairman and CEO, he told Schaub she would go along with him. Schaub says it was the best moment of her career.
Schaub says she has only two regrets about her Aramco service: she didn't keep a diary and she didn't keep a log of some of the hilarious phone conversations she had while working for Kelberer.
However, Schaub did record every airplane flight she's ever taken. The list runs pages long. Schaub is an avid traveler and camper who names Egypt, China and Kenya among her most memorable destinations. She once traveled overland in a caravan of four vehicles to the cradle of civilization, the Tigris and Euphrates.
Schaub attributes much of her happiness at Aramco to the close friendship that evolved over the years between both John and Arlyne Kelberer and herself. "I will leave Saudi Arabia with many happy memories, and a good many of them are due to the way Mr. Kelberer put me in the picture," she says.
Schaub will not be far from the Kelberers in retirement. They preceded her to Austin by one week.
Schaub, a devoted walker and golf enthusiast, intends to participate in some new activities in Austin. She'll also be staying in close touch with her three brothers and eight nieces and nephews who live on opposite ends of America, in New Jersey and California.
Schaub's retirement address is 3402 Fawn Trail, Austin, TX 78746.
The Arabian Sun - May 1989