“Two Angels: Eight Lessons Learned on Earth” is a book by George Elliott, a photographer and author who patterns the main characters in his book after two of his own family members who have made their walks into heaven. Elliott has those two family members meet in heaven because they didn’t actually know each other on earth.
In the book, Amelia Angel is patterned after Elliott’s daughter Amelia who died at the age of 17 in a car accident. The other main character is named Angel T after his grandson Tyson Stewart who died at the age of 20 in an accident.
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“They were so full of life, and they exhibited all of the characteristics in the eight rules in the book, and I wanted other kids to be able to learn lessons from their examples and what they believed,” Elliott said.
8 rules
The eight rules in the book tell us to smile, be kind, laugh a lot, think before speaking or acting, find out what excites you, give your family and loved ones hugs, give hope to people and tell people you love them. Elliott said Amelia was one who did all eight of those things on a regular basis. When she was 17 she was a camp counselor at Camp Cosby, and one night when she was with some other counselors they were in a car accident. Tyson, Elliott’s grandson, died in 2020 in an accident, and it was after he passed away that he wanted to write this book.
“I made them angels because I thought maybe children could relate to them better as those characters,” Elliott said. This is a book he wrote for remembering, he said, because “losing a child or grandchild never gets easier, but it is nice to have remembering.”
After Tyson died, Elliott said he wrote the book and then set it aside for a while. He said he knew he wanted it illustrated and published but was going to do that part himself. Then he remembered an artist, Sandy Bishop, whom he had met at an art show where he had shown some of his photography. He said he called her and asked if she would be willing to illustrate a children’s book, and she said she would love to. He sent the book to her in the middle of last year.
Bishop painted every page by hand, and Elliott scanned them in for the book so that the brush strokes and roughness of a handpainted piece is visible. Elliott said the artistry and the way she captured the two angels was exactly the way he wanted it. He said she also captured the way the two main characters actually looked when they were living on the earth, and the expressions really encapsulate who they were.
“Every kid is special, and every kid makes a difference,” Elliott said. “By following the examples of Amelia Angel and Angel T, it will help them to make a difference, to be happy and be able to make other people happy as well. It also sparks questions about heaven and dying between parents and their children, and it gives them the opportunity to talk about that,” Elliott said.
Helping others
Elliott said a portion of all sales from each book goes to the Amelia Center, which is a counseling center for families who have lost children and other loved ones and need counseling. The center was started after Amelia died so that families could receive the kind of care that George and his wife, Jerrie, needed after they lost Amelia.
Elliott said his wife enjoys the story he wrote about their daughter and grandson and likes how the book treats them and their character. George Elliott said he wanted to share his memories of his two family members to help others learn from them. They have already sold about 400 copies.
For more information about the book, email Elliott at gbephotos@yahoo.com.
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