Long May It Wave

The kids on stage dressed in red, white, and blue represented Betsy Ross,  Paul Revere, and others as they sang their grand finale song, GOD BLESS AMERICA with patriotic fervor! It was spring of 1976 and they were my fifth grade students at the Gate of Heaven School, presenting (in my opinion) a Broadway-worthy performance! I was their classroom teacher during one of the most inspiring times in our country’s recent history. There were parades in every community, large and small. There were programs, commemorations, speeches and events InSide the Back Mountain and across the nation. 1976 was a flag-waving year, America’s 200th birthday.

One month later, I bade farewell to Gate of Heaven School and moved downhill from Machell Avenue to Main Street to begin my official art career. In the 50 years since then, I've been privileged to meet and teach some really wonderful, amazing people, including Matthew Schweitzer, the subject of this month’s cover story! I was even one of the attendees at his West Point graduation, and if you love American history, pageantry, and American flags as much as I do, you can imagine how special that day was for me!

Now, celebrating our nation's 250th birthday, I decided to create paintings of FLAGS! This month I am sharing some examples of my watercolor  “flags with words.” Next month I will feature acrylic paintings of “flags and fireworks!”

My first flag painting featured the pledge of allegiance. Then came an image of a swirling flag with words from the last part of our National Anthem, the STAR SPANGLED BANNER. I enjoyed creating those two “flags with words” so much that I decided to do a mini-series.

One morning in the studio I gathered a handful of small flags, laid them on a drawing table, arranged the folds, rolls, and overlaps, and shot a bunch of phone photos. Choosing one, I drew the divisions created by the folds and overlaps on a full sheet (22” x 30”) of watercolor paper. I counted exactly all the stars and stripes and added them. The biggest difficulty for me was creating the five pointed stars in the correct scale and perspective. When the painting was about half-way complete, my son-in-law, Tim Madeira, walked into the studio. When asked for a song suggestion, his immediate response was GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Ultimately, those photos became the basis for many more paintings. Another flag painting spotlight was STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER! With  another phone photo,  I again celebrated with a large format full-sheet watercolor. Once drawn and painted, I needed the lyrics.  As a school majorette for six years and ultimately head majorette, I twirled my baton in numerous parades, football games, concerts, and pep rallies. I taught twirling for several years during summer and I can hum along to virtually any John Philip Sousa march I happen to hear! But I don't recall ever hearing the lyrics to THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER. It is, indeed, mostly known as an instrumental march, but it does have lyrics. It was written on Christmas Day in 1896 and by the early 1920s it had become extremely popular. In show business it became known as the “disaster march.” Whenever a life-threatening situation developed, such as a fire in a circus tent or crowded opera house, the house band played THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER. It was the signal to move everyone safely to an exit! In fact, circus bands never played this march at any other time. Most recently, it was used in the tragic Hartford Circus Fire in July 1944. In today’s world we rely on sirens, alarms, and loudspeakers, but I imagine this rousing march worked wonders! I chose to use the lyrics from its Grandioso passage. 

Like Tim, my favorite patriotic song will forever be GOD BLESS AMERICA.  In 1918, Irving Berlin wrote it. In 1938, he revised it just before World War 2 and it became a national hit! Many of us remember the early evening of September 11, 2001. Numb from the mental and emotional exhaustion following the day's events, still glued to our televisions, we watched approximately 150 bipartisan members of the United States Congress, in what was probably the last time they agreed on anything, as they gathered on the East Steps of the Nation’s Capitol and spontaneously sang GOD BLESS AMERICA. 

I am an unapologetic flag waver. I love the United States of America. With all our faults, flaws and foibles, it is still the most wonderful place to live, especially InSide the Back Mountain!

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This article originally appeared in the June 2026 publication of InSide the Back Mountain.