As many as 1,000 people are expected to take part in this week's conventions of The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F. & A.M. and the Harmony Grand Chapter of the Order of Eastern Star, being held in Cape Girardeau.
The Holiday Inn and Victorian Inn are convention headquarters for the groups, which convened here Saturday with a Grand Court Order of Cyrenes Board meeting.
Various programs and events are on the schedule through Friday.
Donald Sherwood of Cape Girardeau, past master and committee chairman, is coordinating registration and hotel reservations.
One of the highlight events will be the annual scholarship and awards banquet set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Holiday Inn.
Attending the banquet will be Prince Hall Grand Lodge Grand Master Lucas Lowery and Harmony Grand Chapter Grand Worthy Matron Mrs. Mary Frances Wright.
Jeanne Livers, a '76 graduate of Cape Central, will be guest speaker at the scholarship banquet.
Livers received a four-year scholarship from the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge when she graduated from high school.
She graduated summa cum laude from Southeast Missouri State University four years later, with a bachelor's degree in secondary education, majoring in mathematics.
Since then, she has received a bachelor's degree in science and computer science and a master's degree in teaching.
She has taught middle-school mathematics at Jackson and Cape Girardeau.
She was an assistant instructor in the computer science department at the university for six years and has served as a scientific analyst-programmer there for three years.
During the past two years, Livers has been mathematics curriculum consultant for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in Jefferson City. She was recently awarded the National Catholic Educational Association's 1995 Distinguished Graduate Award from St. Mary's Cathedral School in Cape Girardeau.
The Harmony Grand Chapter King and Queen contest will be held Thursday at 6:30 p.m., and the Grand Master-Grand Worthy Matron Ball will be held Thursday at 9 p.m.
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