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A temple that is expected to have representatives at the opening of the 81st annual Imperial Council of the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of North and South America and its Jurisdiction, Inc., Prince Hall Shriners in Philadelphia on August 18-24, 1974, have already indicated that their delegates will attend.
  
Officers and members of Aswan Temple 115 and Aswan Court 152 in Frankfurt, Germany, will travel to the USA some 7,000 miles from their local court with 50 or more members some two or three days prior to the opening of the convention. This Prince Hall Shrine organization has been active in Prince Hall Shrine programs and events ever since it was established on the European continent nine years ago.
  
Since being organized in 1965, more than 1,000 Prince Hall Shriners have passed through its doors. For shrine year 1973 there were 800 members on roll and tis Daughters of Isis membership numbers 100 in Germany and 125 in the USA. In addition, there are 12 shrine clubs in cities and towns in Europe and in Belgium and it is one of the few Prince Hall Shrine organizations in the world that is integrated, since white members are allowed. A spokesman for the group said that its membership is about 10 per cent white.
  
The criteria for membership in the Prince Hall Shrine order is that you must be a Prince Hall mason. The criteria for membership in the Daughters of Isis is that you must be the wife, mother, widow, sister or daughter of a Prince Hall Shriner. The order acepts members, regardless of race or creed.
  
According to published reports, the overseas Prince Hall Shrine temple and court have been making outstanding financial contributions, donations, and grants to hundreds of poor and needy in the country, and have presented educational scholarships, totaling more than $20,000 over the past nine years.
  
Prince Hall masonry has had a long and colorful history in the annals of the Prince Hall family of masonry overseas for the past 22 years. It all started in Europe in 1952 when Bossie Benjamin Simmons, now a past grand master of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Virginia, from Shiloh Lodge 33, 12th Masonic District, Hopewell, Va., started the first Prince Hall masonic study clubs on the European soil.
  
"I saw a lot of Prince Hall Masons (All Shriners must first be a mason) doing nothing, so I wrote my grandmaster in Virginia and asked permission to organize a club.
  
Working with George Swanston, a honorably discharged military veteran of World War II, Simmons and Swanston, along with other Prince Hall masons, formed study clubs all over Europe. They later received authorization from the late Amos T. Hall, grandmaster of Oklahoma, to form Prince Hall masonic lodges.
  
From this group, more than 27 Prince Hall lodges and Prince Hall study clubs have been established all over Germany, in Belgium, England, France, and Holland. From these Prince Hall masonic organizations, Prince Hall Holy Royal Arch chapters, Knight Templar Commandries, Prince Hall Consistories, and Aswan Temple 115 were born.
  
Simmons is presently serving as the Imperial Director of Publicity for the AEAONMS and is the director of community relations at Virginia State College in Petersburg, Va.
  
Swanston is still in Germany after these 21 years of masonic service and is one of the top ranking civilian workers with the U.S. Army Engineer Command, Frankfurt, Germany. He is the top Prince Hall Shriner on the European continent.
  
Also expected to attend the general session in Philadelphia this year is Noble Joseph Linwood Epps, a Prince Hall Shriner from Masonic Temple 12, at Portsmouth, Va. Epps has been a member of the Prince Hall family of masons for 56 years and during that period of time, he has traveled an estimated 2,000,000 miles to meetings and conventions all overs these USA. 
  
"I have met many associates and friends, I have made lifelong companions, and the fellowship and friendship I have generated will last me until death," Epps recently said.

[[image - black & white photograph of man riding horse in a parade; photo and caption span two pages; caption is transcribed in full on both pages]]

[[caption]] Imperial Potentate John "Champ" Edghill led the parade [[text cut off]] Detroit, Michigan, along Woodward Avenue, riding a white [[text cut off]] in his black silk coat, white turban and bright gold harem. [[/caption]]

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