An American Flag for Their Father
Written By
Annmarie Hickey Georgopolis

www.ahg7.com

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THE HAMPSTEAD VILLAGER
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2006

Local author Annmarie Hickey-Georgopolis
children's book celebrates family and flag

Kim J. Rees
Publisher

Meghan and Jonathan Hickey want to buy their father an American flag. But not just any flag, they want the biggest American flag they can find to wave from their empty flagpole. Their father is serving in the Middle East with the Army Reserves and is due home soon. The problem? How to raise the last $50 they need to purchase the 10 x 19 foot flag they've chosen. Their solution is both surprising and inspiring.

The two children in this story are real, and although parts are fiction, author Annmarie Hickey Georgopolis, an East Hampstead, NH resident, says that even the fictional aspects of the story are rooted in truth. "I was raised on Plum Island," she says. "And we really did sell Popsicles on the beach. And we earned a lot of money; enough so, that my parents took us around to every amusement park in the area. So it seemed a natural way for the two characters in my story to earn money for their father's homecoming present."

And her older brother Marty, really is a Lieutenant Colonel, and does serve in the Massachusetts Army Reserves. Fortunately, he made it home safely, after spending over a year in the Middle East during the war in 2003. Annmarie dedicates this, her first book, to Marty, to her recently deceased father, and to all those veterans who serve this great country of ours.

Written around third and fourth-grade levels, "An American Flag for their Father" offers a hopeful take on conflict while also recognizing the importance of those who have sacrificed so much for our country.

Back in 1979, Annmarie Georgopolis was accepted to both West Point and to the United States Coast Guard Academy. She chose and attended the Coast Guard Academy because of her love for the sea. Going there imbued her with intense love of country and respect for those who serve. She has worked as an independent computer consultant for the last eight years, after retiring from a career at the phone company. She and her husband, Jerry, have lived in southern New Hampshire since 1988.

As the seventh of nine children (seven boys and two girls) who grew up out on Plum Island, in Newbury, Massachusetts, Annmarie was a tomboy. "One of the few times I remember acting like a girl when I was a kid, was when I was chosen to be the 'Queen of Plum Island' on the Plum Island Mother's Club float, during the Newburyport Yankee Homecoming parade. I must have been eight or nine at the time and I was all dolled up in a gown, with long white gloves, and my hair was styled into a fancy due with a crown on top of my head. And when we took home the first-place trophy, it really was something." she remembers.

"Other than that, I was busy playing sports (football, street hockey, baseball and basketball) with my older brothers. I went on to play on three varsity sports teams in high school and I was chosen as captain, on many of those teams."

The portion of her story where the children look through their grandparent's cellar and dig through old hockey sticks and baseballs gloves is based on fact. "With nine of us, there was always a lot of stuff in my parent's cellar!"

"It truly was wonderful growing up on Plum Island. It will always hold a special place in my heart, no matter where I live."