Half a Century Separates Two Royal Handshakes 

by William Tracy

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Editor's Note:

This article originally appeared in the The Daily Record in Lawrenceville, Illinois on June 10, 2002. 

In 1946, on my 11th birthday, with my mother and a younger brother and sister, I boarded a Baltimore and Ohio train in Lawrenceville, on the first stage of a journey by land, sea and air to join my father in far-off Saudi Arabia. The year before, while World War II was still raging in the Pacific, he and a dozen or so other men from Lawrenceville's Texaco Refinery had traveled to Arabia on a U.S. troop transport to work for the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco). At the time Aramco was a joint venture of Standard Oil of California (later Chevron), The Texas Company (Texaco), Standard Oil of New Jersey (Exxon) and Socony Vacuum (Mobil).

Among the men were Till Griffin, Bob King (whose wife Pauline taught at the Lawrenceville High School), Ivan Mayfield, J. V Oliviera, Vincent Papers, Ollie Poland, Leonard Saulman, Gary Stevenson and J.M. St. Paul. Even as a young boy I personally remember several young Lawrenceville couples aside from my father and mother, Frank and Margaret Tracy, because they also had children near my age. They included Dale and Dorothy Gray, Bob and Helen Leach and Giltner and Mary Jane York.

When the men from Lawrenceville went to Saudi Arabia the kingdom was producing just 58,000 barrels of oil a day, half of one percent of world production. Today Saudi Arabia's production capacity is more than 10 million barrels a day and its actual share of current global production is 12 percent.

My journey to Saudi Arabia as a boy was the beginning of a lifelong connection with the lands and peoples of the Middle East, and with their rich legacy of history, art, science, religion and tradition. My father and mother lived there 23 years, returning on "home leave" to visit their families in Lawrenceville about every other year. My youngest sister, now 54, was born in Saudi Arabia. My brother still works in Dhahran where several American friends, the third generation of their family to work in the kingdom, are raising their fourth-generation children.

One of my most exciting memories as a boy is of a day in January 1947, when Saudi Arabia's unifier and first king, 'Abd al-'Aziz (sometimes called Ibn Saud), visited the oil fields in eastern Saudi Arabia. In a precedent breaking move, the King announced that he would be pleased to meet personally with the wives and children of all the American employees then working in the kingdom with Aramco.

In a wind-sheltered area of the Dhahran oil camp's outdoor tennis courts, company officials placed a royal-sized chair on a dais covered by Oriental carpets and backed by flags and banners. There, on a sunny but chilly afternoon some 200 American women and about 100 children filed past the King to greet him and shake his hand. We young boys showed off our beginner's Arabic vocabulary by greeting the King, "Salaam alaikum" (Peace be upon you).

"Wa alaikum as-salaam" (And upon you, peace), His Majesty replied to our great delight.

That childhood memory added to my anticipation of greeting Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah last month, following his meeting with President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. A number of Americans who had lived and worked in Saudi Arabia over the years were invited to meet with the Crown Prince at a reception and banquet in Houston. My wife and I were among the more than 400 Saudi and American guests, including Texas and Houston government officials, local business executives, oil company employees and retirees.

A long way removed from 11 years old, I have now reached an age where my beard is white. When my wife and I passed through the reception line to shake hands with the Crown Prince I wanted to say something that would emphasize the longstanding relationship between our two nations and my own family's longtime connections there. Although my Arabic is at a simple conversational level I practiced a phrase with a Saudi colleague and, when my turn came to shake Abdullah's hand I said to him in the best accent I could muster, "When I was a small boy in Dhahran, just 11 years old, I shook hands with your father, King 'Abd al-'Aziz." I believe I recognized a combination of surprise and appreciation in his eyes as he replied, also in Arabic, "Thank you, thank you."

Later, while visiting with many of the Saudi and American guests, I was reminded once again of how our two peoples share so many values -- values such as generosity and hospitality, devotion and loyalty to family and friends, dedication to justice and to peace, our common quest for faith and spirituality.

Several days later, as my wife and I were returning by plane to our retirement home in Oregon, I recalled a poem I wrote in 1982 for a magazine published for retired American employees and their families who have lived in Saudi Arabia. The great majority of them, like me, treasure the opportunity their lives have given them to know the Kingdom and its people.

We're home again, And yet, so far from home. Who would have thought when we set out Those distant desert shores would yield so rich a harvest Of friends and cherished memories? That there we'd find they praise the same Great God Who blessed us with our journey?

William Tracy, whose roots are in southern Illinois, now writes and lectures about the Middle East from Eugene, Oregon.  Tracy previously lived in Lawrenceville, Illinois until he went to Saudi Arabia at age 11 in 1946, and again for four years in the early 1980s.