WORCESTER, Mass. - Worcester, England is one of four sister cities of Worcester, Massachusetts and on the day of Queen Elizabeth II's passing, a local newspaper reporter in the city offered some perspective on her 70 year reign. 

Rob George, an editor at the Worcester Observer, covered a visit from Queen Elizabeth in July 2012. It was an assignment he'll never forget. 

"It was one of the most special days I've ever had as a journalist," George said.

Queen Elizabeth and her family were in Worcester for the grand opening of a massive public library called 'The Hive'. At the time, Gerorge was a young reporter scrambling to figure out the details of her trip. 

"There's a lot of secrecy, you don't know the queen is coming until the last possible moment," George said. "They only release details that she will be coming to Worcester to do this on this day. They won't give you times or anything. So there's a lot of planning that has to go on."

He remembers the building anticipation as a crowd of thousands lined the streets, hoping to get a glimpse of the monarch. As she wrapped up her visit, George got word that Queen Elizabeth would be attending a reception with local dignitaries and ran to the next stop of her tour in the pouring rain. 

"Listen, you've got to picture the scene," George said. "It's a very historic building in the center of Worcester and about two minutes before she arrived in the car you thought 'My goodness, the queen is going to arrive in the center of Worcester and it's pouring down with rain.'

"The royal car with the flag on top slowly made its way down the high street and the rain stopped. She got out of the car, and the cheers that went up were just something I'll remember for an awful long time."

George says the warmth Queen Elizabeth was greeted with that day shows how she was an inspiration for millions of people in the U.K. and around the world, and it's hard to grapple with the end of an era. 

"I mean I'm 40 years old, I can only ever remember the queen," George said. "There are younger people who can only ever remember the queen, there are grandparents in this country that can only remember Queen Elizabeth being on the throne.

"She refered to Prince Philip once as her strength and stay. She's been this nation's and a lot of countries around the world's strength and stay because she's been the constant for so many of us."