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Photo By: Sue Slavin
Mildred Webster, circa 1946
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Photo By: Ken Slavin
Arab Coffee Pots
Miniature, graduated Arab coffee pots like these were a gift to Mildred Webster from her husband, Ken, on her first birthday in Arabia, August 1946. Here, the pots are displayed with embroidered Arab caps.
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Photo By: Sue Slavin
Ken Webster with his daughter Susan
Ken Webster, with his younger daughter, Susan, circa 1946. Note her bare feet and his Arab sandals. This photo was taken in Ras Tanura.
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Photo By: Aramco
East meets West
East meets West, 1946. This Aramco company photo shows five-year-old Susan Webster holding the hand of her older sister, Judy, 8, as they face two Bedouins outside the Ras Tanura refinery.
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Photo By: Ken Slavin
Summer 1944
The Webster family in Riverside, Connecticut, after Ken’s decision to join Aramco. Left to right: Ken Webster, Judy (6 years old), Mildred, Susan (3 years old).
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Photo By: Ken Slavin
Christmas card
Ken Webster’s Christmas card from Saudi Arabia, 1945.
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Photo By: Ken Slavin
Letter to Mildred’s Stepmother
Letter to Mildred’s stepmother, Beverly “Nana” Nelson, officially announcing Mildred’s safe arrival in Saudi Arabia. The letter is from Ralph Wells, supervisor of Aramco’s Employee Relations Department in San Francisco.
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Photo By: Ken Slavin
Passport Photo
Passport photo for Mildred Webster and her young daughters, Judy, left, and Susan. Mildred was 39 years old when she traveled to Saudi Arabia for the first time. Judy was 8 and Susan was 5.
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Photo By: Aramco, courtesy Susan Webster Slavin
Running into the Surf at Ras Tanura
Judy Webster, left, and her sister, Susan, running into the surf at Ras Tanura on the Persian Gulf, Spring 1946. Their house is visible on the horizon behind them and seated on the beach are their mother, Mildred, and two unidentified Aramco workers. Just behind the girls is the baby black lamb presented to them as a welcome gift by the men assigned to Ras Tanura.
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Photo By: Alice Fullmer Jandt
Dhahran girls
This photo shows several of the little girls living in Dhahran, circa 1946-47. Back row, from left, Judy Webster, Nan Cooper, Patty Dale, Alice Fullmer (shading her eyes with her hand). In front of Alice is Gracie MacPherson. In the front row, second from left, is Mary Pat Singelyn and fifth from the left is Susan Webster. Clairene Townsend is the little girl at the far right of the photograph (another girl has her hands on Clairene's shoulders). The other girls are unidentified – the editor encourages readers to tell us if they recognize anyone!
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Photo By: Judy Webster Bauer
School days in Dhahran
One of the first teachers in Dhahran, Mary Leonardini, on a field trip with some of her students. From left, Judy Webster, Ann Howely, Mary Pat Singelyn (on donkey in back), Miss Leonardini, Pat Hills and Ann Barger (on the donkey in foreground).
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Photo By: Courtesy Judy Webster Bauer
Clipping from “These Pleasant Days"
Clipping from “These Pleasant Days,” the Aramco annuitant publication, 1976.
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Photo By: Susan Webster Slavin
Kuwait Chest
The Kuwait chest that Ken Webster bought for his wife, Mildred, for her first Christmas in Arabia. Here it is displayed in the Webster home in Dhahran, accented with an Arab tray and coffee pot and a framed one-sheet print of the Koran.
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Photo By: Life photo by David Douglas Duncan – courtesy Judy Webster Bauer
King 'Abd al-'Aziz Al Sa'ud
King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Al Sa’ud, founder of Saudi Arabia, during his visit to the Aramco camps in January 1947.
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Photo By: Life photo by David Douglas Duncan - courtesy Judy Webster Bauer
King Receives "Unveiled" Women
During his visit to Dhahran, the King received “unveiled” women and their children – a gesture described as “unprecedented” by Life magazine. This woman and her child were not identified in the caption.
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Photo By: Life photo by David Douglas Duncan - courtesy Judy Webster Bauer
Ras Tanura - January 1947
Ras Tanura dormitories and mosque – January 1947.
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Photo By: Ken Slavin
Airmail Envelope
One of hundreds of airmail envelopes containing lengthy letters to Stateside family members during the Webster Family’s many years in Saudi Arabia. This one is addressed to Mildred Webster’s father and stepmother in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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Photo By: Life photo by David Douglas Duncan – provided courtesy Judy Webster Bauer
King Enjoys Aramco Children
The King enjoys Aramco children gathered on colorful rugs on the Dhahran tennis court for a special audience. Seated in background, from left, are Judy Webster and Alice Fullmer in nearly matching broad-brimmed hats – Judy’s is marked with a small “x.” According to the original Life magazine caption, the King was served a plate of Fig Newtons, visible here on the table beside His Majesty.
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Photo By: Life photo by David Douglas Duncan – provided courtesy Judy Webster Bauer
King Tours the Refinery at Ras Tanura
King Ibn Sa’ud, in front seat, tours the refinery at Ras Tanura, accompanied by Prince Faisal, finance minister.
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Photo By: Life photo by David Douglas Duncan – provided courtesy Judy Webster Bauer
Amir Sa'ud ibn Jiluwi
Amir Sa’ud ibn Jiluwi, then-governor of the Al Hasa Province in which Dhahran is located, hosted banquets for the King and by the Ruler of Bahrain during the five-day royal visit. According to William E. Mulligan, he “bought practically all available silverware and china in the Eastern Province and Bahrain for the feasts.”
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Photo By: Dale Bauer
Old Copper Tray
This is believed to be the old copper tray that Mildred Webster described buying during one of her shopping trips to Bahrain. It features a “pie crust edge” and would have been large enough for making a table, which was her original plan. The tray now belongs to Judy Bauer, the Websters’ older daughter, and hangs on a wall in her Seattle home.
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Photo By: Ken Slavin from his personal collection of Webster papers
Masthead of an Early Arabian Sun
The masthead of one of the early Arabian Sun and Flare newspapers, now known as The Arabian Sun. In Aramco’s infancy, it was a mimeographed publication. This masthead is labeled, “Volume 1, No. 34” and dated December 18, 1946.
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Photo By: Dale Bauer
Arab Blanket Chest
Mildred Webster’s Arab blanket chest, presented to her when she arrived in Saudi Arabia. Carved in the lid is the inscription, “Mildred Webster, 1946,” in English and Arabic. (The Arab year was 1365.) The chest now belongs to her older daughter, Judy Bauer.
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Photo By: Judy Webster Bauer
Mildred Webster in her Dhahran Yard
Mildred Webster in the yard of the Dhahran house, circa late 1940s
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Photo By: Ken Slavin’s personal collection
Websters in Dhahran
The Websters in Dhahran, late 1940s. From left, Susan, Judy, Mildred and Ken.
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Photo By: Patricia Dale Watkins
Fourth of July 1947
Fourth of July 1947 – a children’s inner tube race at the Dhahran swimming pool. Kicking up a storm in the water, from left, are Patty Dale, Judy Webster and Alice Fullmer
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Photo By: Patricia Dale Watkins
View of Dunes in the Late 1940s
View of dunes near Dhahran
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Photo By: Susan Webster Slavin
The Websters on home leave 1947
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Photo By: Ken Slavin, from the Webster family papers
First Launch
View of the fast launch that shuttled Aramcons from Ras Tanura to Bahrain.
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Photo By: Ken Slavin from his personal collection of Webster family items – given to him by his mother, Susan Webster Slavin
Middle Eastern Tray
One of many other trays collected by Ken and Mildred Webster during their years in the Middle East. Some came from suks in Khobar or Bahrain, some from as far away as Beirut. This one is of unknown origin, but is made of brass with copper and silver overlay.
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Photo By: Sue Slavin
Ken Webster
Dhahran District Manager K.R. Webster, in his office, 1952.
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Photo By: Sue Slavin
Ken Slavin, Age 2
The author, age 2, sitting atop an Arab chest in his mother’s living room, circa 1963.