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Today's Featured Biography

James Zimmer

A summary of life after EHS:

First stop after graduation was four years at Southern Illinois University where I received a BS in Electrical Engineering.

Next I lived in Kansas City, Missouri and Denver, Colorado, where I was employed with engineering consulting firms.

After four years in Denver, however, I became restless as I usual and was ready for change and adventure. So, much to the horror of family and friends, I accepted a job with Aramco (Arabian American Oil Company) in Saudi Arabia. The original plan was to remain for 18 months to take advantage of overseas tax exclusions and to travel to “exotic” destinations. 18 months turned into 12 years.

Shortly after my arrival in S.A., I took up long distance running in a serious way and still manage to run or work out in some way 5 days a week but not at the same tempo or distance that I once did. Janet reminds me that I am no longer a shiny new sport car and should behave accordingly.

Believe it or not I met my British wife, Janet, of 35 years in Saudi Arabia where she was also working for Aramco. We have managed some interesting travel adventures over the years.

People always ask me if we enjoyed our years in Saudi Arabia and my standard answer is: “If one adds up all of the positives and subtracts the negatives, the positives outweigh the negatives.” I have had professional and personal experiences in the Middle East I would not trade for anything.

My wife has two daughters from a previous marriage. One of them is now a very successful attorney in Houston, Texas and the youngest one lives in Cairo, Egypt with her husband and young daughter. Janet and I never had any children of our own.

The next move and adventure was going to be a sabbatical in Exeter, England where Janet could become re-acquainted with her family. She had bought a house a couple of years earlier during the Iraq- Iran war because of concerns emergency evacuation from S.A. might become necessary and we had no place in which to escape.

Also, we had purchased a new ocean going sail boat and had taken delivery of it the previous year in Stockholm, Sweden and had sailed it into export to Arhus, Demark avoiding 23% VAT.

The winter months were spent enjoying and exploring England, working on the house, visiting friends and relatives and preparing the boat for the next passage. I was having a great time doing the things I like doing.

After completing our two-year sabbatical we were off to Decatur, IL to set up temporary quarters until we could determine what and where our future would be.

We rented a small apartment on West Main Street in Decatur near downtown for convenience purposes. What had been a respectable area 14 years ago had become the wrong side of the tracks making us somewhat concerned at times for our well-being? It was obvious that parts of Decatur had seen better days.

Fate found us settling on a job in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. We have maintained residence here since 1988 but our adventures had not ended.

It did not take me long to add cross country skiing to my training repertoire, which led me to the completion of several “Berkibeiner”ski races 32 miles in length through the northern forests of Wisconsin along with 6000 other participants.

Another sailing boat was located, purchased and sailed back from Michigan to Sheboygan. This one was a somewhat larger boat and very well founded. After several years of cruising and racing on Lake Michigan it was time for another adventure. The boat was prepared and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and return.

After our return to Sheboygan I was offered a two year contract in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is by far the most interesting and fascinating place we have ever lived and would love to return for more visits.

We next accepted a six-month assignment with my old company in Egypt and our final two year overseas assignment was in Aqaba, Jordan.

The final working years were completed in Wisconsin and I have now been retired for about two years once again doing the things I like doing, especially water and boat related stuff.

We are fortunate our health remains very good.

That pretty much brings things up to the present.

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