When the Queen came to town I was standing on my own lawn at 138 Elizabeth Drive and being the only one there she waved to me as she drove past.
Michal (Millar) Crowe

I was there when the Queen opened the new airport terminal. Of course she stopped at the school right across from the house where I lived. My cousin and his friend were standing on chairs on the lawn to see over the crowd.
Garfield Roberts

My dad was one of the drivers of the 'ladies in waiting' car. Or whatever they were called. They practiced for days to get the route timing down pat--I think that they were supposed to whirl through town in 16-19 minutes (and I have a blurry picture of the queen to prove it). One thing they forgot, though, was the dusty dirt road they'd be taking out of the terminal and as the cars all drove in close formation the queen and duke in car 2 were enveloped in a cloud of dust. Dad's vehicle, following closely behind could only see the duke standing up in the convertible, his head above the cloud waving the lead car(s) on like he was riding in a rodeo swinging a rope. My father and others got to laugh about it later, but no one thought to treat the roadway for dust storm prior to the ride.
Me, I wanted to go through dad's car thoroughly after the tour to see if the ladies had left anything behind as a souvenier, a forgotten hanky, whatever. Alas, there was nothing. So be it for our 16-19 minutes of fame!
Faye (Lewis) Raynard

This story is not related to our reunion or memories of Gander but when I read Faye's story about the "Duke of Edinburgh's" visit to Gander it made me laugh and this story came to mind. This was told to Vicki Gabereau by Deborah Gray (former Conservative MP) on the Vicki show.

When the young Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh paid a visit to one of our Northern Communities, a banquet was held in their honour at the local community hall.
After the main course was finished the waitress promptly went about collecting the plates. The Duke very graciously handed the waitress his plate with knife and fork. The waitress quickly seized the moment and informed him "keep your fork Duke, were having pie for dessert!"

I guess us Canadians are not that easily impressed by Royalty and maybe a little short on dessert forks too!
Elizabeth Lyons

Souvenir booklet and route map of Queen's visit