Charlotte Koyden

Charlotte Koyden met her husband, Earl Koyden, at a dance when she was just 15 years old. She remembered thinking that "he was so tall, good-looking and exciting", and after their marriage about two years later, Charlotte Koyden would herself be a part of the excitement. In a newspaper article, she recalled: "I was born under a lucky star. Imagine? A little Canadian girl like me, born in the small town of Dresden, who grew up to travel the oil fields of the world and meet Greek princesses and Arab sheiks and above all, fall heir to an oil well…"

Earl Koyden owned and operated an oil field in Bothwell and in the early years of their marriage, he would bring Charlotte to the field to show her how the equipment worked, but Charlotte found these trips tedious, dirty, and confusing. Little did she know that one day, she would be operating this field on her own with a complete knowledge of oil work.

At the age of 20, Charlotte accompanied her husband to Greece for three years, where Earl was contracted as the manager of the Zakyenthos oil field. From there they would go onto Mesopotamia, where Koyden acted as assistant manager, then to Australia shortly before the Second World War, and finally to New Guinea (modern Papua New Guina). Charlotte Koyden recalled memories from each of these places. On the one hand, the strange new lands could be quite frightening. She recalled feeling afraid when Earl Koyden was away from their compound in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), where everyone slept outside in the garden. In Australia, the couple were stranded on a bridge in the outback for four days when a sudden rain storm trapped them. On the other hand, it seems that Charlotte took advantage of some of the freedom afforded by living away from home. In New Guinea, she rode wild horses out to the drilling sites to visit her husband.

On one special occasion in Iraq, the drillers and their families were invited by a local Sheik to dinner at his palace. They arrived to find a whole lamb in the centre of the table, on top of a bed of grape leaves. The evening's activities included a visit to the Sheik's harem and a camel ride in the desert.

The couple eventually returned to Bothwell where they continued production on their oil field. After Earl Koyden died, Charlotte took up responsibility for the field and learned all there is to know about the oil business. She once boasted, "I could even repair a pump, I think, if I had to."