A flag for all seasons
Local woman's collection becoming community staple
By Lindsay Sauvageau JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT

Each day, Nancy Gahan decorates the front of her house with a flag to match her mood, an upcoming holiday or a special event from her collection of more than 50 flags. JOURNAL PHOTO/LINDSAY SAUVAGEAU

Ashburnham resident Nancy Gahan hangs her heart on her porch every morning before work. Whether she's feeling particularly civic-minded that day, musical, patriotic or sentimental, she makes sure that the rest of the world knows too.

The mother of three has lived in two homes in Ashburnham with her husband and children for a total of 25 years and every day her home is adorned with a special flag from her collection of over 50 flags.

Gahan has lived on Center Street for 11 years. Before that she and her family lived on Main Street for 14 years. She says she began putting up flags from the beginning.

"My mom always liked doing crafty things like making teddy bears, whatever the big current craft seemed to be at the time. Then she started making flags. I've always liked flags myself. The first flag she made me was of a group of birthday balloons she made using a pattern she took from a coloring book."

Gahan says growing up her father always had the American Flag waving in the yard and it was a symbol that stayed with her throughout her childhood and into her adult life. When her mother Madelyn Barry, of Stoneham, began making flags for her daughter, Gahan didn't think twice about putting them up.

"It adds character to the house I think. I have all kinds of flags, I have Thanksgiving flags, Valentine's flags, Easter flags. Some of the flags I have my mother made and I have bought some as well."

Gahan literally has every kind of flag imaginable, from holiday flags to patriotic flags. Recently, a graduation flag could be seen hanging proudly outside her front door for quite some time. She says that's because she didn't have just one graduate in the house, she had three.

"I have three boys and they all graduated this year so we were celebrating for awhile," she said with a laugh. Her oldest son, David, recently graduated with his masters in business from Providence College, her middle son, Matthew, graduated from Assumption College with a bachelor's in marketing and her youngest, Jeffrey, just graduated from Oakmont. She adds that he will be following in his oldest brother's footsteps, attending Providence College although not for business, but English.

Gahan says a couple of the flags she has purchased have been made locally. Her favorites tend to be the ones her mother has made, along with the American Flag of course. The flag, she says, that has received the most attention has been her "Vote" flag.

"I guess it really reminds people to vote and keep civic-minded. Around the time of the town meeting people told me that they had forgotten to vote until they saw my flag," she said.

Her flags reflect her moods and her life. She has sports flags - the Patriots and the Red Sox - for when the games are on.

"It's funny when I have the sport flags out because people always beep when they drive by. Sometimes you wake up at six in the morning to people beeping at the flags," she said.

She has musical flags, holiday flags, Disney flags and seasonal flags. She has personal flags, like one made in memory of a friend's passing, a flag for when the Olympics are taking place and a Massachusetts state flag which she hangs during inaugurations. She even has a few welcome flags (like the welcome flag featuring a pineapple she hung for this interview) and so many more.

Gahan says she used to keep her collection folded up in drawers but the flags would get very wrinkly and as her collection grew she realized she needed something else.

"For my birthday my husband helped set up a closet with all kinds of hangers so the flags could hang nicely without getting too wrinkled," she said.

She says though her husband, Philip, enjoys the flags, her sons don't share their parents' enthusiasm.

"Oh, the first day of school used to be so funny. They see me putting out a flag and they'd roll their eyes and say, 'do you have to!'"

In the end, she says the flags have simply become a staple in her home. When not participating in her other hobbies (gardening and baking) Gahan says she's always on the lookout for new flags. As far as the public is concerned, she says she'd be happy just to know her flags are enjoyable to others.

"If I can make one person smile a day, then I think I've done my job."