BANGOR – Sixty-eight years after Catherine Rogan was swept away by school spirit, the founder of cheering at a local high school was honored with an evening all her own.

Cheerleaders for John Bapst Memorial High School dedicated their half-time performance during the Feb. 12 game at Bangor Auditorium to the Bangor resident, now Catherine Barrett, and she couldn’t have been more delighted.

“I’m 84, and I was acting like I was 30. I had the most marvelous time,” she recalled.

Barrett was presented with a cheering jacket a big bouquet of white roses during the evening, organized by the Bapst Boosters, and the telephone calls and warm response since Feb. 12 have made her feel special, indeed.

It’s many years now since Barrett and her friend Marie Wood jumped up to rally the crowd for the then-parochial John Bapst High School.

The game was against Bangor – the same rival as on Feb. 12.

All those decades ago, “Bangor High had a big bunch of people,” Barrett recalled, so she and her friend got up and started the Bapst fans cheering.

“We lost the game, but it was a moral victory. We came close,” she said. “We were in cars, up and down Main Street afterward, as if we had won. We had the spirit. It was a magical night.”

There was no money for cheering uniforms or other appurtenances in those days, she said, “and now they have a beautiful band, and everything.”

This time around, Bapst brought home a victory, too, beating Bangor 59-39.

The cheerleaders have had a good year, too, qualifying for the state championships for the first time ever. Moreover, the young squad with only two seniors made the finals in the state competition.

As for Catherine Rogan, she married Dr. Robert Barrett Jr. and they went on to have three children, one of whom became a valedictorian at John Bapst.

But Mom is the one who got her own special evening, complete with basketball victory, flowers and “a beautiful purple-and-white jacket.”

Barrett summed it up, “All I did was have fun.”