What are the odds of winning the honour of being inducted into the Order of Ontario? And what are the odds of being introduced to the Queen of Canada, and to have those happen within less than half a year of each other?

Rev. Alice Porter of Shelburne’s Trinity United Church doesn’t know. But she did beat what must have been incredible odds by her February 2010 induction and her invitation to meet the Queen in Toronto recently. She doesn’t talk about the improbabilities.

“It was a great honour (to have had even a brief meeting with Her Majesty). She asked what I had done to merit the Order of Ontario. I told her of my nursing in India, and of my (local) volunteering since returning.

“She said, ‘India, oh really.’ And then, on learning my age, she said, ‘There’s no stopping you.’ “

Ms. Porter was one of 20 recent recipients of the Order invited to attend the Rotunda for the meeting.

The Tuesday of the meeting was the hottest day of the week, with the humidex hovering around 43 or 44C. Ms. Porter said the Rotunda is not air conditioned, and the wait for the Queen might have been for an hour or more. She said she had an unexpected honour during the wait – that of chatting with Dr. Samantha Nutt, the cof

ounder with husband Dr. Eric Hoskins of War Child Canada, of which she is executive director

Dr. Nutt, also an Order of

Ontario

recipient.

Husband Dr. Hoskins is Ontario Immigration and Citizenship Minister, and a member of the Order of Canada.

It was an auspicious occasion for Ms. Porter. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever meet the Queen. When I received my medal (Order of Ontario), I thought I would never again wear it.” But she got to wear it that day.

The Queen, who is four months older than Ms. Porter at 84, might have set an example of stamina to younger persons in the crowd.

Ms. Porter said Her Majesty was unfazed by having to mount a flight of stairs in the heat, of then spending an hour or more greeting those in attendance, and continuing her regime by going out on the blazing hot concrete under an unforgiving sun and intense humidity to place a wreath and “inspect the troops.”

After the official ceremonies were over, Ms. Porter and her chauffeur, Ruth Cruickshank, had occasion to chat with Shriners from as far away as Idaho before they began their parade that followed the Queen’s visit.

By the time Ms. Porter and Ms. Cruickshank were on their way back to Shelburne, Queen Elizabeth II was already making her rare appearance at the United Nations in New York City, thence her return to Old Blighty.