Initially, membership in
the LOSNA was restricted to the families of Osiris Shriners, but when the news
if Isis Court No. 1 reached Nobles’ Ladies in Pittsburg, PA and Parkersburg,
WV, they wanted to be a part of the activities, and thus Allah Court No. 2 and
Hathor Court No. 3 were formed. The ladies soon realized
the need for a governing body. Representatives
from the three existing Courts met on June 24, 1914 and organized the Grand
Council. Today, the LOSNA have over
16,000 members in 78 Courts across North America. The aim and goals of the Ladies Oriental Shrine, as set forth
in the meeting in 1903, are to promote sociability, good fellowship and the
betterment of all Ladies connected with the organization. In the beginning, Shrine Nobles
installed the officers of LOS. The
original emblem on the LOS fez was the men’s shrine emblem.
Soon the ladies held a contest to choose the LOS emblem for the fez, and
the emblem chose remains the same today. The Ladies support various
special projects with the emphasis given to the LOS Special Project for the
year, as chosen by the reigning Grand High Priestess. This special project is designed to assist an area of
specific need within the Shriners Hospitals such as research into various
childhood conditions. For the year
2008-2009, Lady Judith Cline-Junkins, Grand High Priestess, has chosen
“Scoliosis Research” in the Shrine Hospitals as the special project.
When Lady Judith was visiting our Court, she reported on a specific
Doctor whose specialty in Scoliosis in newborns.
She had perfected a procedure to manipulate the newborn’s spine, set
the hips and bind them together. Six
weeks later, reset the hips and bind them again.
There is a special table used when binding the children.
Keep up that procedure and that can cure the scoliosis in the newborns.
Another procedure used for older children, at least 16 years of age, it
to put rods down the spine held in with 21 titanium screws.
The rods are placed in so that they grow with the children or they can
replace the rods with very little difficulty.
No body cast is needed. They
have designed a titanium rib to be used when a person is pulled over to the side
with scoliosis. The rib is applied
vertically to help straighten them up. Philanthropy totals from this
past year, turned in from all 78 Courts, are: Mileage – 757,661;
Hours of Service – 225,055; Articles
Donated – 1,098,824; Value of
Articles - $613,772; Cash
Contributions - $1,730,039. Here in Wichita, we are
fortunate to have Arami Court 101. We
are a small court in numbers, but we are very active and have a fine group of
ladies. In February of 1983, three
ladies (Ruth Halfhill, Mary Funk, and Ileen Maars) got together and decided to
for an LOS Court. They wrote down
names of women they knew and who they thought would be interested in joining a
LOS Court. The enlisted the help of
the Ladies of Tarrara Court #83, Independence, MO, who helped them, decide how
much to charge for initiation fees and dues and more importantly helped them
decide on a name for the new Court. The
ARAMI was formed using the letters of the first names of these three Ladies –
Ruth, Mary and Ileen. The had the
RMI. Eventually they hit upon the
idea of adding two A’s to complete the word.
Arami was born. In April 1983, officers
were elected. The original three
Ladies were elected as the first High Priestess, Princess and Associate
Princesses. The first High
Priestess was Lady Ileen Maars. By July, the group had
collected 127 petitions. On August
6, 1983, ARAMI Court #101 was instituted and a grand ceremonial was held.
That evening there was a banquet and the new officers were all installed. By February 1984, there
were148 members who are all considered Charter Members. Today, Arami Court #101 has 109
members. There are 7 Units and Clubs
within our Court. From the beginning, our Ladies
have been very busy. We have rung
bells for the Salvation Army, collected “golden garbage” for KFDI’s
Community Club Awards, and put on a Ball complete with an orchestra! We recently “adopted” a shrine child to share experiences
with. Each Fall Ladies from the
six-state surrounding area meet at the Mid-States Unit Meet.
Grand Council, a weeklong
gathering of all Courts, is held each May.
Membership is open to any lady
related to a Master Mason or Shriner, in good standing, by blood, marriage or
adoption.
Click on the link: www.ladiesorientalshrine.org
Revised July 24, 2009
Back to Midian Shrine

Claudia Keller, High Priestess
Louise Meade, Associate Princess, Philomena Wohlford, 1st Ceremonial Lady, Claudia Keller, High Priestess,
Linda Gibson, Princess, Brenda Kauffman, 2nd Ceremonial Lady
The Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America (LOSNA) was founded in Wheeling,
West Virginia in 1903 when the Ladies of Osiris Shriners were invited to attend
the social events and festivities surrounding Osiris’ Spring Ceremonial.
When the Shriners departed for their initiation Ceremony, he Ladies were
enjoying themselves so much they didn’t want to stop.
The surveyed the McClure Hotel, and began to parade through the halls.
They eventually arrived at one of the hotel’s conference rooms.
The doors were closed, a guard was set, and within that room, with
dignity and sincerity, and without any prepared paraphernalia the first session
of the Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America was held and Isis Court No. 1
came into being. The Ladies would
henceforth conduct their own affairs, even while continuing to support their
Nobles with Shrine Activity.
Krafty Krew
Kan-Du-Dancers
Klassy Kilts
Krazy Tales
Kibetzing-HazBenz
Bloomin’ Buddies
Claudia Keller, High Priestess
(316) 978-6941,
lckeller@cox.net
Linda Gibson, Princess
(316) 361-0758,
deerangel@cox.net
Terri Wells, PHP, Recorder
(316) 773-9651,
wwtbear@infionline.net
Cheryl Ross, PHP, Treasurer
(316) 682-8873,
cheryl.ross@cox.net
Louise Meade, Associate Princess
(316) 655-1194,
lcm655@sbcglobal.net
Philomena Wohlford, 1st Ceremonial Lady
(316) 721-4369,
Bensonwohlford@sbcglobal.net
Brenda "BJ" Kauffman, 2nd Ceremonial Lady
(316) 821-9089,
sbjkauffman@cox.net
Jan Hiebert, Grand 2nd Ceremonial Lady, PHP
(316) 729-4023,
bhieb1@cox.net
Ladies of the Oriental Shrine were awarded 1st place in "Adult Parade Entries"
in the Kechi Parade June 27, 2009