Children say goodbye to the lady in the red apron!

The Drumsurn native who was brought up on a farm, started work as a machinist before moving to Ballymoney when she married Don Rodgers, the school’s popular caretaker, in 1978.

Kathleen or Miss, as the children knew year, has had a long association with the school both as an employee and a mother of pupils in the school. When her own children, Damien and Imelda, left St. Brigid’s PS, Kathleen took up a position as an employee at the school in 1998. Working alongside her husband Don, they formed part of a very important team which kept the school looking so well.

Principal Mr Conlon Principal said: “Every school has a team of dedicated people who quietly work behind the scenes to make sure that the pupils and the staff have the best possible conditions to work and learn in. Kathleen certainly did that. She took great pride in her work and never wanted a fuss made of her. That was very much Kathleen’s way.”

At lunchtime Kathleen was also a supervisor and this was a role she enjoyed as she looked forward to being with the children - and it’s this role that the children will best remember her by.

The P1 children, who performed a special assembly for Kathleen, knew her as the lady with the bright red apron who helped open your packets of crisps, taught you how to skip or picked you up when you fell in the yard.

Kathleen always loved the P1 class and would visit each new group when they entered the school to introduce herself. Kathleen enjoyed her assembly with the children and their kind gifts. Mr Conlon thanked the children for their wonderful send off adding: “Kathleen will not be heading home for a rest, as she is the proud grandmother of two new grandchildren, which she is thrilled with. She will miss us all, as we will miss her, but at least she won’t have to take any more orders from Don.”