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[nomad soul]

Such a fascinating life...

American twins look forward to meeting King Salman
Arab News | 3 September 2015
Source: http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/800876

Eighty-six-year-old American twins who met King Abdul Aziz in 1947 and King Abdullah in 2008 are now set to meet Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman in Washington on Saturday during his official visit.

North County twins Jackie Voskamp and Joyce Kriesmer will be special guests at a gala dinner being held in honor of King Salman, according to a report published on Wednesday in the San Diego Union Tribune written by reporter Pam Kragen. The twins — who lived for decades in Saudi Arabia — are carrying on a tradition that began 68 years ago when the sisters first met King Abdul Aziz, in Dhahran in 1947. Seven years ago, they returned to Dhahran as the guests of King Abdullah. When King Abdullah died earlier this year, the sisters received an invitation to attend the new king’s party in Washington.

In the joint interview conducted by the newspaper Tuesday at Voskamp’s home, the twins talked warmly of the decades they spent in Saudi Arabia, the generosity of the Saudi people and the camaraderie among the American oil workers who in 1933 established the remote desert drilling operation that became Saudi Aramco.

Jackie and Joyce were born seven minutes apart on March 1, 1929, in Los Angeles. Nine years later, their father, Roy Haug, landed a high-paying job at $209 a month with Aramco near Dhahran. The family stayed behind in Central California. When World War II started, Haug was sent home and returned to Dhahran with his family after the war. The twins were just out of high school.

On Jan. 25, 1947, King Abdul Aziz made a ceremonial visit to the American family compound at Dhahran. He greeted all the wives and their combined 29 children, including Joyce and Jackie in matching polka-dot dresses. During their time in the city, the twins passed the time taking Arabic lessons, swimming and going “pot picking,” which meant scouring the desert sands for geodes, jewelry, gold coins, pottery and other items that had fallen from Bedouin camel trains traveling to Makkah.

With so many well-educated engineers flooding into the fast-growing oil town, the twins — who worked in the town’s library — soon met their future husbands. In 1949, Jackie married George Larsen. They had two children and spent 27 years in Saudi Arabia and three more in Nigeria and Beirut. After Larsen passed away, she married Raymond Voskamp. They have lived in Vista’s Quail Ranch community for 17 years. Joyce married John Kriesmer in 1951. They had three children and spent 35 years in Saudi Arabia before returning to the United States. From 1998 to 2011 they lived in Escondido. Four years ago they moved to Rancho Bernardo’s Remington Club, where John passed away in 2013.

The twins said they were both shocked when they were invited back to Dhahran in May 2008 for Aramco’s 75th anniversary celebration. Twenty-five of the 29 children who were greeted by King Abdul Aziz in 1947 returned to meet King Abdullah and each received various gifts. The twins said they hardly recognized the now vast town of Dhahran, but they immediately remembered how much they loved the gracious Saudi people who welcomed them “home” after so many years away.

(End of article)

[veiledsentiments]

Families of the original expat oil workers... for a whole $209 a month. LOL They were two beautiful young women when they met AbdulAziz.

VS

[desertdawg]

I don't understand this obsession with posting newspaper articles that people could read of their own volition

Is this job related? Does it have a place on the job forum?

[nomad soul]

[sicklyman]

[scot47]

Desertdawg is being overly critical. I welcome posts of this nature. "The Crofters' Gazette and Poultry-keepers' Bulletin", which is my weekly newspaper here does not often run stories about KSA. I welcome the chance to expand my horizons and see what is happening in Hejaz-Nejd.

[nomad soul]

From the San Diego Union-Tribune article:

[jaffa]

[In the heat of the moment]