Vicki Blackstone by Vicki Blackstone

As far back as I can remember, I was 3 or 4 years old and we took my Dad to the train station in Houston, Texas. I did not know where he was going; I only knew that we would see him a few months later. I do remember living in Venezuela and playing out in the yard with a small monkey as my doll, dressing it in doll clothes and pushing it around in a baby carriage. There were lots of iguanas in the yard. We moved many times while living in Venezuela. For kindergarten, my mother taught me at home.

I went to the first grade at Ridgecrest Elementary School one block from our home on Turquoise St., in Spring Branch, Houston, Texas. I distinctly remember having to run back to school to get my socks one day when I had taken them off and put them in my desk. My mother had told me not to take them off while at school and I did not want to get in trouble. Instead I got in trouble for running in the halls while leaving the school. Needless to say, I never took my socks off again.

For second grade we lived in Bogota, Colombia. I remember learning Spanish in school and I loved the private school we attended. It was up in the mountains and it was very beautiful. We lived there until I went to 4^th grade. On some Sundays we would go to bullfights. One Halloween my mother dressed me up as a flapper. I thought I had so much fun. From Bogota we moved to Cucuta, Colombia, which was on the border to Venezuela. We would travel over to Venezuela once in a while to shop. They had American ice cream that we could not get in Cucuta. We had a swimming pool in our house and that was lots of fun. We also were a member to the country club. We had a housekeeper that lived in our house. She had her own maid quarters. We also had a gardener and a watch dog. We had been robbed and my father hired the gardener to watch our house at night. The house was more like a hacienda, with lots of open spaces. Some rooms would not be completely with inside walls and there were many gardens in the house.

We moved to Crocket, Texas during my 5^th grade year and we lived with Grandmother Blackstone for a while. Then me moved to Houston for that summer and moved to Saudi Arabia to work for the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO). We loved living there. We lived in a camp that was surrounded by a tall fence where everything was available to us. There was a swimming pool, tennis courts, bowling alley, dining facilities, taxi services, grocery store, hobby shop, teen canteen, pool hall, library, school, baseball field. Right outside the fence was a suq, a place to purchase various items. If we wanted clothes and did not want to wait on shipments from the USA, we would take a picture to a tailor at the suq of a picture of what we wanted and in 5 days it was finished. The material was purchased from the tailors shop. If you could not find what you needed there one could take a taxi or use the bus service to go to Al-Khobar to shop. Al-Khobar was an hours drive from our small camp called Abqaiq. It was back in the days when mini skirts were in style and we were not allowed to wear them outside the camp. We had to wear dresses no shorter that our knee. If you wore anything shorter you could be hit on your legs by the religious elders in the streets. It never happened to me or anyone that I knew.

The schools only went up to the 9^th grade so anything after that we had to go away to school. I had never been to public school accept the first grade so I was anxious to go to school in Crocket, Texas and live with my Aunt Alice. Of course, I was already very fond of my Aunt Alice because when I was younger she would take care of me. I loved going to her house and I remember crying when my mother would come to pick me up. I liked living with her but did not like attending the public schools. Kids were unruly and I was not used to that. For my 10^th grade I went to San Marcos Academy where many of my friends from Saudi Arabia were attending and I loved being there with them. I graduated from there in 1971.

I lived in Houston for one year before going to college at Sam Houston State University.

I only went to college for 1 ½ years when I quit and went to work as a secretary for Brown Oil Tools in Houston, Texas. I got to live with my grandfather, George Whitaker, my mothers, father before he passed away. I later quit Brown Oil Tools and went to work downtown Houston for ARAMCO Services. I worked for them for about two years. I lived in Houston for a several years and eventually moved to Huntsville, Texas when my parents retired there. I had a son, Aaron Blackstone in 1981, which was one of the highlights of my life. My father built us a house where we lived for many years. When Aaron started college I knew it was time for me to begin another faze of my life. The internet was up and running so I started searching for my future husband. After a year I found the most wonderful man ever and we were married at my parent’s home a year later. Gregory Edwin Kane and I have been married now 4 years this December 20, 2006.

My son, Aaron Shain Blackstone, is graduating from Sam Houston State University this December in Computer Science. He is in the US National Guard and he is also a member of the Shriners. We are very proud of him.

I have had an adventurous life and have been very fortunate and truly blessed. I have a wonderful family and a wonderful extended family. My father and mother have always told us to be proud to be a Texan and be proud of our heritage. I am proud to be a Blackstone.