The year of 1967 was very quiet compared to 1966, a chance for the Temple to relax and regroup. Our new Potentate George H. Salzer, a fine speaker, kept the Temple running on schedule and had Ceremonials in June and December at which 112 Candidates were inducted into the Temple.

    In 1968 Harold T. Jordan, of Longview, was elected Potentate and it was during his year that one of the biggest events in the history of Afifi Temple took place. That of the installation of Past Potentate Chester A. Hogan of Afifi Temple as the Imperial Potentate of North America.

    A resolution was passed March 7, 1968 that $30,000 be appropriated from the Activity Fund to pay expenses for this trek to Chicago in July.

    The Afifi Temple Units left Tacoma on three chartered planes and were housed at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago for the five nights of the Session. When a Temple is honored with an Imperial Potentate to be installed, everything is first class. Afifi Temple was placed in the second position for the Day Parade on Tuesday and in the first position for the Night Parade on Thursday.

    The installation festivities took place on Wednesday at the Medina Shrine Temple in Chicago. The stage was covered with Puyallup Daffodils with a huge backdrop showing fields of daffodils and Ml. Rainier in the background. The Afifi Band played and the Arab Patrol of Tacoma were the escorts for the dignitaries. It was a beautiful sight and made the Afifi contingent very proud.

    The Illustrious Sir Harold Jordan also held Cold Sands Ceremonials in Longview, Centralia, Raymond and Tacoma inducting 70 candidates into the Temple and one full Ceremonial in December with 41 candidates.

    At the Stated Meeting on Feb. 6, 1969, the new Illustrious Sir Neil D. Gray introduced P. P. Aurie Thompson of Nile Temple who was the Director General of the Imperial Council for the 1969 Session to be held in Seattle. He said that Nile, Afifi and El Katif Temples would co-host the Imperial Session from June 28th to July 3rd.

    A special meeting was held on June 26th for the purpose of balloting on 121 petitions from Afifi for initiation at the Imperial Session in Seattle where the Imperial Sir Chester A. Hogan would be retiring from that office.

    There were so many visiting nobles and their families coming to Seattle that they had to be housed as far north as Bellingham and in Centralia to the south. Everything went well for Afifi Temple during the Session. As in Chicago, the host Temple led off the Day Parade with all of their Units and Afifi had that honor.

    A large group of Afifi nobles and their ladies were led on a trip to the Orient by the Past Imperial Sir Chester A. Hogan and by Potentate Neil D. Gray. They left Tacoma on October 14th by plane to Honolulu, then to Guam and finally to Manila where a Ceremonial was held for 93 candidates. The group then went to Hong Kong to initiate 5 candidates. A few days later they arrived in Bangkok, Thailand and had another Ceremonial, the number of candidates was not shown in the Minutes. The tour group went to Taipei, Republic of China, and initiated 35 candidates. The Ceremonial Banquet was held at the beautiful Grand Hotel where two plaques were presented to the General and President of the Republic of China, Chang Kai-Shek in appreciation of their services to the group. The tour closed with a Ceremonial in Tokyo with 78 candidates being initiated.

    At the Stated Meeting on January 8, 1970 at which time the Illustrious Sir Fred L. Wilvers became Potentate of Afifi Temple, the Recorder Edward L. Reames who had held that office since April, 1959, resigned after eleven years of fine service to the Temple. He was replaced by the election of Noble Russell H. Michael as Recorder.

    A Ceremonial was held in Reno, Nevada, on June 12 to 14th. Afifi joined with the Western Shrine Association Temples and 126 candidates joined Afifi at that time.

P. P. Cecil Walrath retired as the National Director of the Royal Order of Jesters in July 1970.

    Past Potentate Neil Gray and Noble Bud Roberts were co-chairmen for an All-Star Football Game which was played on August 21, 1970.

    In October of 1968 the Elective Divan had been appointed as a special committee to consider the general subject of a new Mosque for Afifi Temple. They concluded their first meeting by asking that the committee be continued and that the nobility render suggestions and comments. After considerable study and effort on the committee's part, a resolution was passed at the Stated Meeting on Nov. 5, 1970 to purchase jointly with the Scottish Rite of Tacoma, a tract of land in Tacoma for $175,000, on which the Mosque could be built. The cost of this land was to be evenly split between the two Bodies. There were approximately twenty-four acres involved.

    By June 1970 more than $5,000 had been raised by rummage sales and the money was presented to the Imperial Sir J. Worth Baker for the Hospitals.

    At the December Ceremonial honoring P. P. Cecil Walrath, more than $30,000 was presented to Potentate Wilvers for our Hospitals with $9,600 earmarked to purchase thirty-seven beds for the Portland Unit.

    Brooks K. Johnson was elected Potentate in 1971. His father, Charles W. Johnson, was Potentate of Afifi Temple in 1951 and also Grand Master of Masons during 1962 and 1963 in Washington and Alaska.

    During 1971 the new Mosque Committee, under the leadership of Past Imperial Potentate Chester A. Hogan, was diligently working to find means to raise the necessary monies to build the new Mosque. P.P.'s Bill Brown and Fred Wilvers were in charge of this project.