MERRILL, Mich. (WNEM/Gray News) – A 97-year-old woman in Michigan got to relive her days as a cheerleader, thanks to her high school’s current team.
Merrill Community Schools said 97-year-old Ilagene Doehring is a former cheerleader of Merrill High School, and she was reminiscing about those days with her caretakers at Candlestone Assisted Living.
Not only was Doehring a former cheerleader, but she is also partially responsible for introducing cheerleading to her high school.
Doehring was a member of the school’s very first cheer team and even helped create the first uniforms.
“I just felt bad that Merrill High School didn’t have cheerleaders when all the other schools had them,” she said. “So, we decided to do something about it. We had a hard time finding orange material to make our uniforms. We had a lady that sewed them for us and that was it.”
Doehring told her caretakers all about how she made her first Merrill cheerleading uniform herself and she wanted to wear one again.
Her caretakers took to social media to ask for help, hoping to make Doehring’s wishes come true.
Merrill’s current cheer coach Jena Glazier was able to help get Doehring back into a cheer uniform.
Last week, Glazier and her cheerleaders surprised Doehring at her assisted living center.
The team brought Doehring her own uniform and performed a few cheers with her. She even got to be a flyer.
“She said, ‘Lift up,’ and we’re like, ‘Really?’ And she went, ‘Yeah.’ She got right up there and stood right up, and it was awesome,” Glazier said.
The cheer coach said Doehring left her with a lot to be grateful for.
“When I left, she said, ‘Without me, you wouldn’t have Merrill cheer.’ And I just thought on that, and I’m just so grateful for her because I know what it probably took to get that started, and she’s allowed me to come in after her – a foundation that she built and her and her girls, they built this program – and I get to come in behind her and mentor girls all the time because of that,” Glazier said.
The other residents at the assisted living center watched Doehring and the cheerleaders perform.
Doehring said she was “embarrassed of all the attention,” but she had fun.
“I guess I’m famous now,” Doehring said.
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