Dogs in Saudi Aramco Camps
- Pipeline
- In Search Of Oil
- Other - In Search Of Oil
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Author: Merle and Curtis Wideman
Released 31 March 2008
Timmy, the Widemans' beloved Maltese. Photo courtesy Merle and Curtis Wideman.
Now after some 40 years the story can be told. Saudi Aramco would not allow employees to have dogs prior to the 1960s; cats were allowed, but not dogs.
However, in Abqaiq in the early 1960s, there were two Maltese Dogs—a male and a female. They were apparently brought in as Maltese Cats. The female was owned by the McNab's and the male by the Fahey's.
In about 1963 or 1964, the two were mated and a litter of three resulted. Bunnie McNab worked with me and we were given first choice of the litter as a gift to our young daughter, Cynthia. We chose a male and named him Timmy. One other puppy, a female was given to the Gillan family. We don’t know where third one ended up but McNabs kept it for a time.
Timmy and Cynthia Wideman. Photo courtesy Merle and Curtis Wideman.
Timmy was a great pet. We left Arabia in 1970 and flew with Timmy in the cabin with us to Rome, Italy. We were to continue and fly to Naples, but the pilot would not allow Timmy in the cabin with us, so we took a cab to Naples and boarded the ship. We often joke that Timmy had a First Class Penthouse Suite and that we were in the Tourist section.
Timmy lived with us in various places in the USA until 1975 when we all went to Iran. Unfortunately, one day we left Timmy in our fenced yard in Tehran and when we returned, Timmy was gone and we could not find him.
Now poor Timmy had to learn Farsi! Thus ends the story of a little white Maltese Dog named Timmy. We returned to Arabia in 1976 without Timmy.