Getting older means having to give up some of the hobbies and interests that you may have had when you were younger. Whether it’s because you either can’t physically do them anymore or because the priorities and responsibilities of adulthood are more demanding and can’t allow you that extra free time. Whatever the reason is, it can be quite disheartening to grow up and put all of those interests away.
However, a 97-year-old woman named Ilagene Doehring is proving that age can really sometimes be just a number, and it shouldn’t ever impact your ability to do something you once loved and maybe miss.Â
A 97-year-old woman was able to cheer with the former high school team she founded for one last time.
Doehring, who’s from Michigan, told WNEM News that more than 80 years ago, she was a cheerleader at Merrill High School and had actually helped create the squad after noticing the school didn’t have one. She had been reminiscing about those days with her caretakers at Candlestone Assisted Living.
“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.”
Staff at the former cheerleader’s assisted living facility connected with the current team coach to make her dream come true.
While talking about her past experience as a cheerleader, Doehring expressed a desire to wear her old cheer uniform again, which is when her caretakers got the brilliant idea to make her dream a reality.Â
After hearing about Doehring’s past as a cheerleader, they reached out on social media to see if anyone had an old uniform that the elderly woman could wear one last time.
Merrill’s current cheer coach, Jena Glazier, saw that Doehring was inquiring about a cheer outfit and was able to help out.Â
When Glazier was unable to find a cheer uniform that would fit Doehring, she decided to take it a step further and had the entire high school cheer team visit the assisted living facility to see Doehring and invite her to cheer with them.
The cheer squad and Doehring were able to perform a routine for the other residents in the facility.
The team managed to bring Doehring her own uniform in the end, and the 97-year-old woman 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 told WBKO.
Her impressive skills were quite a sight for the high schoolers as well. “We had asked her if she remembered any cheers from when she was in school, and we were figuring it was probably 84…85 years ago, and she was right on top of it, and she said yes. When we walked in the door, she was already cheering. Before we could even start cheering, she was ready to go,” Glazier continued.
Despite how much this interaction meant for Doehring, it was Glazier who admitted that she got the most out of visiting the elderly woman and being able to make her cheerleading dreams come true.Â
It made Glazier realize that a lot of the people who came before her had a helping hand in shaping the life that she’s living now.
“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.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
