![\"Fouad\"](\"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/files\/2019\/04\/Fouad_Ajami-1998.jpg\" "\\"Fouad\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Four college friends left Eastern Oregon College and scattered across the U.S.: Satwant lives in California now, Sami is outside Washington D.C., Riad\u2019s out in Ohio, and Sally lives near her mother in La Grande. But when they get together, it\u2019s like no time has passed at all.<\/p>\n
This year their reunion was inspired by Riad\u2019s \u201cdear, departed brother,\u201d Fouad Ajami, \u201968,who received the EOU Alumni Association\u2019s 2018 Distinguished Alumnus Award for his work as a scholar and political advisor on the world stage.<\/p>\n
The group gathered to receive the award at Homecoming and celebrate his memory. In 50 years of changing locations, occupations and relationships, they\u2019ve all held onto a special fondness for Eastern Oregon.<\/p>\n
Two of the bunch, Sally (Brownton) Wiens, \u201966, and her sister Carol, \u201964, grew up in La Grande, where their father was a well-known judge. Sally remembers bringing her friends from the International Student Club to her parents\u2019 neighborhood get-togethers, and said those bonds were an integral part of their experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been a college town for so long,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know that we benefit from learning new things, and from the diversity people bring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sally enrolled at Eastern Oregon College in 1962, and Riad Ajami arrived in January 1963.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was the first person from the Middle East, from Lebanon, to attend Eastern,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople were kind, and I felt very welcomed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had first seen information about Oregon at the John F. Kennedy Center in Lebanon, and sent a letter to the registrar at EOC. His father was on-board to let Riad study abroad, but he was thinking France or England would do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted the farthest place from home \u2014 Washington, Oregon or California,\u201d Riad said.<\/p>\n
He and his younger brother, Fouad, had heard that the U.S. was a place of freedom and opportunity. Plus, maybe they could meet Elvis.<\/p>\n
![\"Riad](\"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/mountaineer-magazine\/files\/2018\/08\/Riad_EOUyearbook_1965_closeup.jpg\")
<\/a>Riad Ajami in EOU’s 1965 yearbook.<\/p><\/div>\n
Riad and his new roommate, Satwant Singh Thind, didn\u2019t have much in common at first. Satwant, an international student from India and a member of the Sikh religion, wore turbans and a long beard, while Riad blended in more with his American peers.<\/p>\n
Riad remembers Satwant asking: \u201cYou always have dates on the weekends, what about me?\u201d Riad responded: \u201cSatwant, I cannot date you.\u201d<\/p>\n
His first attempt to set Satwant up with a friend was thwarted by Satwant\u2019s heavily scented beard wax, as well as his pungent breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween girls and garlic, he\u2019d pick garlic,\u201d Riad said.<\/p>\n
Satwant eventually found a date who didn\u2019t mind his beard or his breath: Carol (Brownton) Lindsay. The two went together when Carol returned to EOC to finish her degree.<\/p>\n
On a trip to Walla Walla, Riad suggested that Satwant cut his beard and hair. But Satwant\u2019s parents would stop his allowance if the annual photo he sent revealed that he\u2019d shaved.<\/p>\n