
DATE: Sunday, June 29, 1997                 TAG: 9706270299

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   54 lines

LAKELAND STUDENT WINS CITYWIDE YOUNG AUTHORS CONTEST MARCY LIVERMAN'S ESSAY WAS ON A COUSIN WHO DIED FIGHTING A FIRE.

Marcy Liverman, 16, smiles through tears when she talks about winning first place for her grade in the Young Authors competition sponsored by the Suffolk Reading Council.

The smiles are because Marcy, a sophomore at Lakeland High School, took top city honors in the autobiography category.

Tears stream down her cheeks because her winning entry was about her close bond to her cousin, John Robert Hudgins, Jr., a Chesapeake firefighter who lost his life just over a year ago in an auto parts store fire.

The daughter of Norfolk firefighter/paramedic and a registered nurse, Marcy has heard disaster stories before and knows the risks involved in an emergency service career.

``But those things usually happen in New York or Chicago and I never thought it would hit this close.'' Marcy said.

Marcy shares her father's and cousin's fascination with firefighting and fondly recalls visiting them at their stations in Norfolk and Chesapeake.

For several years her father also volunteered as a firefighter in Whaleyville.

``I used to go to my cousin's house to baby sit and I would go by the station to have dinner with him,'' Marcy said. ``Mainly we would talk about things we had in common, like how I got to go on calls with my dad and things that I had seen.''

In her Young Author's essay Marcy wrote, ``My cousin and I used to talk about everything together. . . There is not one day that goes by that I don't think about him or how great he was, and if I could do anything to take back that one day to save his life, I would.''

Besides her Young Authors entry, Marcy has written two term papers about Hudgins. ``When my cousin died it really got to me and my family and I like to talk about it so it doesn't keep me upset,'' she said.

Macie Sadler, Marcy's English teacher for the last two years, was impressed by the first paper and suggested a sequel for this year's research assignment.

``The papers were beautiful and I think her next step is a book,'' Sadler said. ``I would love to see her get published.''

While Marcy enjoys writing, her current career goals are focused on some form of emergency medicine. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER

Marcy Liverman holds a photo of her cousin John Hudgins, a

Chesapeake firefighter who died in the line of duty. The Lakeland

High 10th grade student won first place in the citywide Young

Authors competition for an essay about hercousin.

[For a complete copy of student winners in the Young Authors

competition, please see microfilm.]