It is not every day you get to relive a special moment from the past.

For former Verbena native Bennie “Patsy” Palmore, traveling back more than 65 years was something she never thought possible.

“I have so many memories from my high school years,” Palmore, 83, said. “We just had so much fun back then.”

Palmore, a current resident of Elmcroft Senior Living in Birmingham, was given the opportunity to relive a moment in her past due to a “Second Wind Dream” program the assisted living facility provides.

“We offer the opportunity to our residents to either do something they have never done before or relive a moment in their past,” Tammy Smith with Elmcroft said.

Palmore graduated from Verbena High School in 1949 where she was one of six cheerleaders who spent football season cheering on the Red Devils.

Due to Palmore’s love of cheerleading where she often chants cheers from her high school days at Elmcroft Senior Living, she decided to use her “Second Wind Dream” to revisit Verbena High School.

Palmore traveled from Birmingham Friday afternoon to take part in the pep rally at Verbena High School where she was reunited with longtime friend and former 1949 VHS cheerleader Jean Woodfin.

“I just feel so honored that someone like me could have the opportunity to do something like this,” Palmore said. “It almost doesn’t seem real.”

Palmore said her favorite memory of cheerleading was having the opportunity to travel on the bus to the various schools Verbena would play.

“It was always just a great time for us,” Palmore said. “We would get on the bus and drive to a different area where we would play the football game. Our biggest rival was Chilton County. That was always the last game of the season for us. We didn’t care for them too much because they always beat us.”

Woodfin, who currently lives in Clanton, had lost contact with Palmore throughout the years, but often wondered what happened to her friend.

“I didn’t know where she was living for the longest time,” Woodfin said. “Someone I know gave me a telephone number for her recently, and we were able to reconnect that way.”

Woodfin, who also cheered during 1947-1949, said Friday was the first time she had seen Palmore in many years.

“I was worried she wasn’t going to recognize me or that I wasn’t going to recognize her,” Woodfin said. “I used to have black hair and was worried she might not recognize me, but as soon as I saw her, she looked the same as I remember her.”

The two hugged and shared black and white photos of one another outside the entrance to the gymnasium, where students and faculty screamed cheers in support of the varsity football game Friday night between VHS and Loachapoka High School.

VHS cheerleaders honored Woodfin and Palmore by handing them a pair of red and blue pompoms.

“The cheer I remember the most went something like, ‘V-e-r-b-e-n-a, that is the way to spell it, this is the way to yell it, go Verbena!’” Palmore said. “The crowd would then go wild yelling out the name of our school, which of course made everyone so happy. The cheerleaders loved showing support of the team, and we made sure the crowd was having fun.”