When we first moved to Iran in 1967, we were warned about encountering bandits in deserted places. But it turned out we seldom traveled off the beaten path, as a family. We did take frequent trips to the FAA resort at Chalus on the Caspian Sea, but that was a busy route with lots of traffic.
We didn’t see a lot of criminal activity in Iran. Occasionally we heard of someone being shot or hung for a serious crime. Women were hung for running illegal brothels. Once a woman’s husband left her, she didn’t have a lot of options when it came to making a living. She could move in with family or become a prostitute. There were legal, government-run brothels where women were inspected for STDs on a regular basis.
After a few years, around 1970, we started hearing of terrorists going after Americans in Iran. The Vietnam war was at its height and many of our friends were transferred there. Sadly, we lost quite a few friends in Vietnam. A lot of our attention was focused on daily activities with school and getting the girls to their swim lessons so we didn’t realize terrorist activity was picking up until fall 1972 when Lloyd Jones’ car was blown up in the MAAG parking lot.
People have asked us many times why we stayed in Iran for ten years. I guess the simplest explanation was, it was home. You can get used to anything, they say. As long as we were able to maintain a fairly normal life, we just kept on going.
zehbel 
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