Fiy aman'Allah, Dad

Deceased: 19 September 2007

I am sorry to tell you of the passing of my father, Frank Bobrowski, on September 19, 2007, at the age of 88.

Aramco Annuitant Frank Bobrowski

Our family gathered together here in San Francisco on Sunday, September 24 to celebrate the life of a truly beloved father whose mission in life had always been to love, support, guide, and spend time with his family. He has joined our mother, Nancy Potts Bobrowski, whom we have all dearly missed since her death in 2001. We take comfort in the fact that both of their lives continue through the lives of their children Tom, Steve, Jane and me (Betty) and our spouses, ten grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

I know there are some who knew Dad quite well, and might like to hear about his life. I hope the rest of you will bear with me.

Dad was born in 1919 in Yonkers, NY, the son of Polish immigrants. He grew up there during the Depression, and worked hard from an early age. He put himself through college, graduating from Oklahoma A & M (now OSU) in Chemical Engineering.

Along the way, he served in both the Army and Navy. He went to work at the Bureau of Mines in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where he met our mother Nancy, who was employed there as a chemist. They married in 1948 and Tom and Steve were born in Bartlesville.

On a visit back to New York, Dad was offered a job with Aramco, and this is almost word for word the way they always told the story: he came home and asked Mother if she'd like to live in Saudi Arabia. She asked, 'Would we have air conditioning?' He replied in the affirmative, and she said, 'Let's go!'

Dad arrived in Dhahran in 1954, and Mother and the boys followed in 1955. I was born in Dhahran, and we moved to Abqaiq in about 1959. My sister Jane was born in the clinic at Abqaiq, a unique occurrence in those days when the mothers were usually brought to Dhahran to give birth in the hospital there. We moved back to Dhahran in 1968 or 69, along with what seemed like most of the rest of Abqaiq's families. Dad retired in 1984, and they moved to Seattle, Washington where they were near my brothers and their families. (Tom and Steve both worked for Aramco for some years, and Steve's daughter Diana was born in Dhahran in 1978.)

Dad thoroughly enjoyed his 30 years with Aramco, developing in his profession, becoming a Petroleum Engineer, working out in the various fields testing wells and so forth, and in the Lab in Dhahran. Others could tell more about his professional life than I can, but I know he was very happy with his career as a whole, and even in his late years could recall amazingly small details from his work life.

Last fall, when he was 87 years old, we were looking at slides which had been in storage for many years, and one came up of a (to me) nondescript well with an equally nondescript desert background and a colleague standing by the Christmas tree wearing a hardhat. Dad said, 'Oh, that's Well # X, in Abqaiq Field, and it had an output of X thousand barrels per day' (I can't even remember the exact numbers he quoted) named the colleague, and went on to describe him as having had a master's degree from a school in I believe Pakistan. Another time he told me in great detail about a time when he was at a remote location where he was communicating by code over the radio regarding one of the first test wells in a new area called Shayba, and how those on the other end of the transmission could not believe the huge output numbers he was reporting, even though he had double checked everything and tested the instruments to make sure.

Frank and grandson Nick Hall in March of 2004

Dad was an inveterate storyteller, and the short version of one that the grandchildren enjoyed hearing over the years is about one time when he was offshore and some of the men were fishing, and a huge shark was spotted just below the platform. All work stopped and everybody rushed over to participate in the excitement this engendered. A committee decision was made to join several large hooks together, and bait it with a large steak. Once the shark was hooked, they had to use the crane and a lot of teamwork and kalaam to haul it up onto the platform, and a general celebration took place amid the dividing up and freezing of this very desirable catch to be shared among many families.

Dad worked hard and enjoyed his job, but he was also a true family man. He did a lot of things with us, and took us and our friends on countless outings. He participated with my brothers in Boy Scouts and Little League, he took us to the salt mines, to the sand rose spot, pot picking, to all the local towns, plus fishing and camping and boating and just out jouncing over the dunes in the trusty old Land Rover.(Flying like eagles up on the roof with the wind in our faces, as my dear friend Andrea Calligeros reminded me the other day) He tried his best to teach me to shoot baskets and bat, and I could do both sort of ok for such a skinny kid, but despite his determined efforts I never could do anything but throw 'like a girl'-not Dad's phrase, but my loving brother's - I won't say which one! He made me a bicycle out of spare parts, and it was the greatest bike ever, painted with tiger stripes just like I wanted.

We had many pets over the years, and Dad would often claim that their upkeep was bleeding him dry, but we always had cats, plus various birds, hedgehogs, a dhub, horses, and an injured hawk. I know many of you have heard about Bowser, our alligator that Dad smuggled in from Florida for Steve in the mid '60's and which eventually landed in the Riyadh Zoo, reigning supreme as the sole alligator in Saudi Arabia. I always wonder if he's still there - alligators do live a long time! The Bowser stories were everyone's favorites, but there were so many, and I can't pick just one.

Dad was always careful to remind us of our status as guests in the Kingdom, and he fully expected us to be respectful and polite to everyone, regardless of their nationality, as he was himself. Well, maybe there were a few exceptions such as when he would vociferously dispute the amount of the bill at the gas station, usually over a discrepancy of a literally two or three quirsh, while I sank down as low as possible in the backseat hoping no one I knew would see me! I was laughing about that the other day and one of the adult grandchildren mentioned that she remembered him doing that after he retired here in the States as well. Dad could be cranky with us kids too at times, but he always got over it quickly and made up with us, and there was never any doubt that he would always love us and be there for us no matter what. He took care to be evenhanded in his parenting and didn't play favorites. He never bad-mouthed anyone or even talked about other people much at all in my recollection, and Mother didn't either, which I admire greatly to this day, though it did result in my not knowing about a lot of extremely interesting information which seemed to be general knowledge among my peers but which I never heard until much later.

Frank with son Steve Bobrowski in the Summer of 2003

Our parents were always involved in Square Dancing in Arabia, as were many of their invariably wonderful friends, such as the Seips, the Cooks, the Maises, the McCorkles, and the Stauffers, among countless others. Just a few of their other friends were our neighbors the Zurawels, the McClains, the Ives, the Cumings', the Gagers, the Morses, and the Andersons. All of us kids were close with one or another of some of their children as well. Dad co-owned a boat with Clyde Davis, and had spoken with him earlier this year. He was so proud of a huge hamur he caught with Larry Flowers from that same old green motorboat, and always kept a photo of it on display. After retiring, our parents kept up with many of their friends, got together with them as much as possible, and attended several Annuitants' reunions.

My brother Steve is married to Cheri Dobyns, and her parents Bill and Dee, (who had worked with Dad in the Lab in Dhahran) along with her sister Vicki, also relocated to the Seattle area around the same time as our parents retired there in 1984. Steve and Cheri were in central Washington State, and brother Tom lived on Vashon Island near Seattle. It was really great having a family hub in Washington, and Jane and I would visit often from Arizona and California. Bill and Dee Dobyns, amazingly enough, share the exact same wedding date as our parents, and we all celebrated their 50th anniversaries together in Seattle in 1998. Dad enjoyed his grandchildren, whether bouncing the babies on his knee, rolling on the floor with the toddlers, pushing a swing, or talking into the night with a teenager interested in Grampa's opinions on the Cold War.

Dad often said that he had had an interesting, happy life, and he was grateful for it. Even in the later years when he suffered the loss of our mother, as well as from Alzheimer's disease and various other health problems, he accepted these slings and arrows with good grace and tried to make the best of things. He lived with Steve and Cheri for several years and had recently relocated here to San Francisco. He still knew us all, still told stories and jokes, still made new friends wherever he went, and still derived the greatest pleasure from his family. He was able to get around and find enjoyment in each day right up until his last few weeks of life, and was even giving advice to grandchildren while gravely ill in the hospital, and smiling when he could.

This is my own personal view of our father's story, and some of the details may not be exactly right, but I did the best I could out of love for and gratitude to my entire family and this one of a kind Tribe, Aramco, and the special communal memories we share. I am also especially grateful that my close friend Stephanie Knott lives nearby and was able to attend Dad's service, and that I have received kind messages from many of my classmates.

Betty B McNiel AB/DH '71 San Francisco

Steve Bobrowski: stevecheri@gmail.com

Bill Dobyns, Keith Bobrowski, Allen & Ava Rendell, Diana Rendell, Jeff Bobrowski, Constance Rendell, Chris D'Annunzio, Alton Rendell, Deb Bobrowski, Tom Bobrowski, Dee Dobyns, Mike D'Anninzio, Cheri Bobrowski, and Frank Bobrowski in Seattle in 2006.