It’s a very sad day for Mrs. Doreen Denicola as she heard the news that Queen Elizabeth II died Thursday at the age of 96.
“She’s had an impact on me my whole life because my father was a great Monarchist,” Mrs. Denicola said during a telephone conversation with The Citizen. “We had a huge portrait of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth hanging over our dining room table. I have followed her life (Queen Elizabeth II) with great interest my whole life because we are close to the same age – she is three years older than I am. I have to say that I hold her in the highest esteem because she has been a role model to me. She has been a true example of stability and courage and dedication throughout her entire life. I have always admired her because that’s how she chose to live her life.”
The first time Mrs. Denicola saw royalty was in 1939 as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth took the Royal Tour through Canada, traveling by rail and they passed through Virden, Manitoba, the small town where Mrs. Denicola grew up.
“The royal train was coming through our town but it was not going to stop,” Mrs. Denicola explained. “It was just going to slow down and they would come out to the observation coach and wave to everybody and my teacher said we’re all going to the train station to wave back and we did – all 32 of us. We just got such a thrill seeing King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on the back of that train. When we got back to the school we all got a medal. A pretty little medal on a red, white and blue ribbon and I still have mine.”
Mrs. Denicola is a collector and as life comes full circle so did that little royal medal.
“I have just received that beautiful medallion that they put out in Queen Elizabeth the second’s honour for her Platinum Jubilee,” Mrs. Denicola said. The medal was awarded to Mrs. Denicola for her lifelong dedication to volunteering in the Prince George community.
“And I brought the pretty little medal with me to the presentation of the Platinum Jubilee medal and when I showed it to people they were astonished that I had kept it all these years and I said of course I kept it – it means so much to me,” Mrs. Denicola said.
Mrs. Denicola has seen Queen Elizabeth II several times including in 1971 when she visited Fort George Park (now called Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park) during BC’s Centennial celebration.
Queen Elizabeth II was accompanied by her daughter Anne.
“They stopped right in front of us and the Queen’s daughter Anne stopped to have a conversation with my oldest son,” Mrs. Denicola recalled.
Mrs. Denicola was invited to the celebration when the University of Northern BC opened in 1994 and the Queen was in attendance and she also saw her in London when the Queen rode her horse out of the gates of Buckingham Palace many, many years ago during a ceremony called the Trooping of the Colours which marks the official birthday of the British Sovereign.
“I am sad,” Mrs. Denicola said. “It’s another part of my life’s era. I know they will replace her but it will never be the same. Oh my dear, it is not a good day today.”
