Carol Archer

To Meet A Queen Carol Archer

A glimpse into the life of Mary Elizabeth Archer, the first Western woman to live alone in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Two vignettes give the reader a front-row seat to the transition of power in the 1960s in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia-from a woman's point of view. Based on true events in her life as an ex-pat, the sights, sounds and smells of the time are vividly recreated. In addition, Mary's later sociological comparison of the USA and KSA is reproduced exactly as she wrote in 1990 for her great nieces and nephews. In addition to the sociological perspective, her experience in Saudi Arabia is examined through the lens of Culture Bumps. A final story about the last chapter of her life reveals some fundamental beliefs that her life embodied. Both stories underscore her life-long awakening to the beauties of a world beyond her upbringing in a farm community in West Texas.