An Update from Tom and Linda Anderson
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Author: Tom Anderson
Released 13 July 2009
Before traveling to Saudi Arabia, we lived in Port Arthur, Texas and Cincinnati, Ohio, where I worked in refineries for Gulf Oil and Linda taught school. I have a degree in Chemical Engineering and Linda has a degree in English and Spanish, and she has a teaching certificate.
Tom and Linda AndersonWe moved to Saudi Arabia with Aramco in 1974, first in Abqaiq where I worked in Operations Engineering Department for the gas plants, and later in Dhahran where I worked in Facilities Planning Department on projects for the Master Gas System. In Dhahran Linda taught in the Aramco schools and at Aramco’s Industrial Training Center.
Soon after arriving in 1974, we bought a four wheel drive Chevy Blazer that carried us, along with other adventurous souls, throughout Saudi Arabia – to the Asir and Hijaz mountains, the Rub-a-Khali where we saw the Milky Way, Najaran on the Yemen border, Medain Selah, the Hijaz railroad with the ruins left by Lawrence of Arabia and his Bedouin raiders, the long route of Tapline to Jordan, scuba diving on the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, the markets of Tief and Abha – with many nights camping in the desert.
Cheryl AndersonIn 1977, we left Saudi Arabia and moved to Beaumont, Texas, where I worked in refinery planning for Mobil. While in Beaumont, Linda and I both got MBA’s from Lamar University, and after getting her MBA, Linda also worked for Mobil.
In 1982, we returned to Aramco, living in Dhahran. I worked in Facilities Planning Department on projects for refineries, pipelines and terminals, and Linda worked as a Financial Analyst in Exploration Department. Our daughter, Cheryl, was born in 1983 in Dhahran.
In 1986 we returned to the US, living in the Dallas, Texas area. I have worked in consulting since returning to the US, primarily in refining and chemicals. I am currently President of Baker & O'Brien, a consulting firm in Dallas.
We have a horse farm near Poetry, Texas, about 30 miles east of Dallas, where Linda trains and breeds purebred Arabian horses. Both Linda and Cheryl have shown Arabian horses for many years, and have won honors at the regional and national level. Cheryl graduated from the University of North Texas in 2005 and now lives in Jeddah.
The website for our horse farm is www.adonisbey.com. Our email is adonisbey@att.net and my work email is tca@bakerobrien.com.
We recently converted our Saudi Arabia slides from the 1970s to CD, and some can be seen on Snapfish, and some are also on Aramco ExPats (Aramco in the 70s). If anyone would like a link to the photos on Snapfish, please send us an email.
We love to hear from people who have lived in the Middle East, and our back porch is a great place to kick back and talk about those times. Visitors are always welcome!
Tom and Linda Anderson
The Andersons would love to reconnect with the following individuals. If you can help, please email them at the addresses above!
- Bruce Bolus
- Nikki Berski
- Ted Earle
- Lilly Segel
- Rick Attix
- Daphne Meyers
- Ron and Sharon Soltau
- Bill Kristen