•1917- she sings solos in church at
age 6.
•1919- her farther, Reverend White
returns from World War 1 and the family moves to Halifax, Nova Scotia
•1929- after graduating from high
school and briefly attending
Dalhousie University, Portia becomes a teacher and she is18.
•
1941-Portia gives her first concert in Toronto with the help of Edith Read and the Branksome
Hall Alumnae. Portia
sings an artist’s contract and resigns as a school teacher.