An American Flag for Their Father
Written By
Annmarie Hickey Georgopolis

www.ahg7.com

(CLICK ON EACH WORD BELOW, TO SEE THE LINK TO THAT PARTICULAR PAGE)

NEWBURYPORT DAILY NEWS
MONDAY, MAY 30, 2005
MEMORIAL DAY

Popsicles and patriotism
Salisbury family highlighted in new children's book,

By Angeljean Chiaramida
Staff writer

When Annmarie Hickey Georgopolis was a little girl selling popsicles with her brother, Marty, on Plum Island Beach, she never imagined it would ever become the setting for her first children's book, "An American Flag for Their Father."

"Oh, it was awful; I hated selling those popsicles," Georgopolis said, laughing. "Lugging that heavy cooler all the way to the end of the beach was a lot of work. Marty hated it, too ... but Dad collected all the money we earned, and we'd go to every amusement park there was during the summer."

Nor did Georgopolis think her father's World War II experiences in one of General Patton's tank battalions, together with her brother Marty's 15-month tour of duty in Iraq, would provide her with the rich material and impetus needed to write it.

The Hickey family was and is very close, all nine children. They grew up in a tight household with their mother, Ann, and father, William, on Plum Island. The years may have separated the family members physically, 43-year-old Georgopolis said, but not emotionally. Though she lost her dad about a year ago, when talking of him, his parenting skills, his love for his kids, the flag and his country, laughter comes to her easily. Tears come just as freely to her eyes.

"This book was written for Marty," she said, "but it's a tribute to my father."

Georgopolis' book accomplishes both, and provides some great lessons for youngsters. Taking poetic license and some personal experience, she sets her book around two children, Meghan and Jonathan — the names of Marty's children. In her book, the kids want to earn money to buy a "humongous" flag as a welcome home gift for their father, Marty, when he returns from duty in Iraq. To earn the money, Georgopolis said, it seemed a natural thing for the kids in the book to sell popsicles on Plum Island Beach, with the guidance of their "Grampy," of course.

Intermingled in the pages of the illustrated book is the patriotism Georgopolis and her siblings learned from their parents.

"The part of the book that describes how the kids' grandfather puts up and takes down the flag every day?" Georgopolis said. "The way he salutes the flag? My father really did that. ... My father was in D-Day ... he got the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart."

William Hickey rarely spoke about his experiences in World War II, Georgopolis said, but the connection between him and his son, Marty, grew stronger when the younger Hickey ended up in the Middle East for 15 months about two years ago. Often, she said, when Marty called home during his military service, her father was so emotional he couldn't speak.

Georgopolis' brother remembers those calls well.

"I tried to call home every Sunday," Marty Hickey said. "My father couldn't talk to me because he was in tears. He knew what it was going to be like for me. He'd been in a war situation."

While Hickey was in the Middle East earning his own Bronze Star, he remembers how much it meant to him to get Georgopolis' monthly CDs. She'd scoop up the kids for the weekend, he said, then send him stories about their escapades along with loads of pictures.

"Absolutely, those CDs were great," Hickey said. "Just to be able to see how much the kids had grown was wonderful."

It was out of those writing experiences, Georgopolis said, that her children's book was born. It took persistence to find the right publisher, she said, but eventually she discovered Publishing Works of Exeter, N.H., and publisher Jeremy Townsend.

"Annmarie is a truly remarkable first-time author," Townsend said. "I knew after meeting her the first time that it would be a worthy project."

The book is written around the third- and fourth-grade reading level, Townsend said, and will be available at local independent book stores and via the Internet soon.

Getting the perfect illustrator was extremely important to Georgopolis. Townsend suggested a few, she said, but after seeing the work of Newburyport illustrator Susan Spellman, it was Spellman who got the call.

"I just love the illustrations," Georgopolis said. "The picture of the people in the book don't look exactly like anybody, but they resemble (Marty's) kids and my parents a good deal."

Spellman said she had fun working on the book with Georgopolis, including having tea with Ann Hickey and getting the feel of the family home on Plum Island.

To celebrate Flag Day, and the publishing of her book, Georgopolis will visit Salisbury Elementary School and read excerpts of it to her niece's schoolmates. Since Marty and his family live in Salisbury, and Meghan is a fourth-grader at the school, Georgopolis said, the visit will be very special.

"I really like the book," Meghan said in a recent phone conversation. "And, my brother Jonathan likes it, too."

"Jonathan likes the story because the flag means a lot to him," Marty Hickey said. "He's always had military aspirations."

More than a mere aspiration, Jonathan is hoping to join the freshmen at West Point some day, his father said. If that happens, he will be the second Hickey accepted to West Point. As a high school senior in 1979, Georgopolis was accepted to both West Point and Coast Guard Academy. She picked the Coast Guard, she said, because growing up on Plum Island gave her a love for the sea. But, she added, she knew her dad had a soft spot for West Point.

"Before my father died," Georgopolis said, "he was going through the things he'd kept over the years, and he handed me my acceptance letter from West Point. He'd kept it 20 years, it meant so much to him."