Published: October 11, 2008 11:50 pm         

Olympic Autumn Glory!

Phelps family grand marshals at Autumn Glory

OAKLAND — Though Michael may be in the spotlight after his Olympic win, Deborah Phelps, his mother, and her daughters Hilary Phelps and Whitney Flickinger got the chance to serve as grand marshals for the Autumn Glory Parade in Garrett County on Saturday.

“It’s always a very exciting event,” Deborah said. “Even though we’re from Allegany County, we grew up on Deep Creek Lake because we had a place here.”

The whole family got some national attention when they attended the Beijing Olympics to cheer on Michael as he competed and won eight gold medals in swimming.

“It’s been quite a homecoming,” Deborah said. “Everyone wants to say thank you because with everything going on in the country, it was great to have this story about a mission to have such a historic moment.”

Hilary said the entire experience of going to China was hectic, being moved from place to place for the various events and getting accustomed to the schedule there.

When Michael won that eighth and final medal of the 2008 Olympics, she said it was almost a shock to realize it was over.

Deborah said it was a change, though, from just prior to leaving when they were all trying to get ready to leave. Deborah is the principal at Windsor Mill Middle School in Baltimore, Hilary works at NAEM, an environmental association in Washington and Whitney works as a recruiter for Acsys, an accounting and finance company in Rockville.

As business professionals, Deborah said, they had to try and get as much done as possible before being away from their jobs for two weeks.

She said the plane flights were almost a relief as they could sit when they wanted, watch movies, eat and relax.

Since the Olympics, she said, it has been very busy and they are still getting stories from Michael about the whole experience each time they get a few hours to spend together as a family.

One of the highlights in the time since the Beijing games was getting to see Michael on Saturday Night Live. Deborah said she only found out at about 10 p.m. that night they wanted her to appear in Michael’s opening monologue. When she agreed, she said she found herself sitting next to Amy Poehler, dressed as Deborah, even down to the Chico’s coat.

She said she didn’t feel Poehler’s impression of her was exactly like her.

“I’d never say those kinds of things,” Deborah said. “Afterward, Michael told me that looking down, he could really see the resemblance.”

Whitney said getting to watch her brother from the audience was an interesting experience and Hilary, who couldn’t make it to watch the filming, said she could see, watching from home, that they’d caught the “goofy side” of her brother.

Michael may be the one who is getting the national attention, but Deborah said she is proud of all three of her children.

“I’m proud of the entire family,” she said. “I’ve spent three decades in this sport.”

First, she supported Hilary in her swimming efforts and then Whitney, both of whom got scholarships for swimming in college. She said Michael followed his sisters into swimming.

The family will all be heading back to their homes on Sunday to be back to work on Monday, Deborah said, but since she had been in the area, it had been like a reunion as she got to see friends from Bruce High School and former sorority sisters from Fairmont State College she hadn’t seen in years. She was also able to get back in touch with family, as she has family connections throughout the area, including Westernport, Lonaconing, Keyser and Oakland.

She said she felt her brother had gotten his home in Oakland in order to have a gathering place of sorts for the whole family.

Whitney said she really enjoyed the experience of getting to come to the area with her mother and the rest of her family, including her husband and two children.

“It’s great to come to a place where mom used to come,” she said. “It’s a small home town where everybody knows everybody. It’s a great place to be.”

Contact Sarah Moses at smoses@times-news.com.