Norman and Helen Hecimovich have three sons and four granddaughters.

He has served his country during three wars and now helps veterans readjust to civilian life.

He is a retired educator with more than 32 years in school administration.

He served on the Austin City Planning Commission and now serves as an Austin 3rd Ward city council member.

He has commanded both Austin American Legion Post No. 91 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1216.

He was selected as Austin’s Volunteer of the Year award-recipient for 2007, the same year he was chosen one of the state’s top liaison for the Employer Support for Guard and Reserve (ESGR).

And now, Hecimovich is Grand Marshal of the 2008 Spamtown Freedom Fest Independence Day parade.

“I’m honored,” he said. “I appreciate the honor.”

And like everything else he does in life, he’s preparing for the July 4 speech he will give celebrants at Austin Community Bandshell Park’s flag-raising and salute to veterans ceremonies.

It’s got to be perfect in Hecimovich’s eyes.

“Being prepared” has served him well in life and its an important part of the advice he is waiting to give his granddaughters.

“I would encourage them to join and if you’re going to join that you make a commitment to do it and do it right,” he said. “Don’t ever go into anything half-heartedly. Set high standards for yourself and it’s very important that you achieve them.”

The Freedom Fest grand marshal said his parents set high standards for him, while goring up on Minnesota’s Iron Range.

“‘Don’t come back unless you’re an engineer,’ my father told me after high school,” Hecimovich said.

Serving in the U.S. Armed Forces may has been pre-ordained in his life. His father and seven uncles all served their country in all branches of the Armed Forces.

But, he said, he always welcomed challenges first as a paper boy, which earned him the title of “roving ambassador” and then as a Boy Scout at the national jamboree.

Talk about over-achievers. He was president of the senior class and student council in high school, lettered in four sports and was chosen for all-conference honors.

Everything he did helped prepare Hecimovich for the next hurdle.

He earned his jump wings as an airborne ranger in the Korean War; graduated Officers Candidate School, earning a commission as a major, then resigned his commission to return to active duty during Operation Desert Storm as a military policeman, guarding Iraqi prisoners; worked in military intelligence during the Vietnam War; and now serves veterans as the ESGR liaison between veterans and employers.

“My duty is to see to it that all veterans are treated with dignity and respect,” he said of the ESGR responsibilities.

Man of principle, principal man

When the Hecimoviches moved to Austin in 1969, he became principal at Lincoln School on the city’s northeast side.

In the next three decades, he served as principal at Webster, Gerard, Woodson, Shaw and Sumner before he retired in 1995.

Then, he worked as a consultant for the Minnesota Department of Education for six years before “un-retiring” to fill in for his son, Jim, as the Kingsland school district’s elementary principal, when his son was called to active duty in the military.

As an after-thought, Hecimovich noted, “I was selected the state’s Distinguished Principal of the Year award-winner, too, but I can remember exactly when.”

When he decided to run for the Austin City Council after serving on the City Planning Commission, he made it his mission to make a difference.

“I had no hidden agenda,” he said, “I just wanted to make Austin a better place.”

And now Grand Marshal of the Freedom Fest parade on Independence Day.

Although he admitted, wife Helen has begged off riding in a convertible with 30,000 people cheering, he’ll be there and not just because he has to be there as grand marshal, but because it’s Independence Day.

“The country is really a baby,” he said. “We only got our independence on July 4 232 years ago and that’s a relatively short period of time as far as countries go,” he said.

When he addresses the Independence Day crowd July 4, his message will be typical “Hecimovichese.”

“Basically, I will talk about the fact that we are a new country and it’s so important that we leave a legacy for future generations,” he said. “We need to carry on.

“This country will only survive when people take the responsibility of their country and its people to make it a better place to live and to remain an independent country with all the freedoms we have to enjoy,” he said.

What a grand marshal he will make.