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Kathleen Minnick-Taylor, daughter of the late Alvin Minnick and Lizzie Como is the recipient of Nevada’s Small Business Administration Entrepreneurial Spirit award on May 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Kathleen is a graduate of North Vermilion high school. Her sister Sharon Minnick and Kathleen’s son, Kemet Okara accompanied Kathleen to celebrate her award at the annual Nevada SBA Small Business. Kathleen’s journey of resilience, while facing adversity, speaks to her character and integrity. These values were instilled by her parents who emphasized striving for excellence and being a role model for younger generations in their family.
As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) takes the opportunity to highlight the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs, small business owners, and individuals from all 50 states and U.S. territories. Nevada Entrepreneurial Spirit award is given annually to an individual or company in Nevada who best demonstrates a pattern of entrepreneurial activities in support of small businesses.
Nominated by Monica Coburn, President of Nevada Business Advisors and selected at the district level by a panel of judges, Kathleen was recognized as the recipient of 2025 Nevada Entrepreneurial Spirit Award on at the annual Nevada SBA Small Business Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kathleen’s career in business development highlights her work with the Nevada Women Business Center and Clark County Office of Economic Development. She provides business strategy, advisory services, and resources for small, woman-owned, minority-owned, and veteran-owned businesses to bolster Nevada's business and economic development industries.
Kathleen partnered and supported small business advocacy activities with Nevada’s Lieutenant Governor’s Office of Small Business Advocacy and National Association of Women Business Owners Southern Nevada Chapter to advocate for small and woman-owned businesses. She volunteers her time in a mentor and leadership capacity as a
Nevada Governor-appointed Commissioner for the Nevada Commission for Women.
Her level of engagement in Nevada’s business communities demonstrates her dedication, spirit, and leadership in Nevada's business ecosystem. Kathleen embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship and is a worthy recipient of the 2025 SBA Entrepreneurial Spirit award.

UPDATE: The name of the female driver killed has been released by the Sheriff's Office. The driver's name is Michelle Seaton. The Sheriff's Office is investigating the accident.

A female driver was killed when the white car she was driving on Roosevelt Road, located in the northern part of Vermilion Parish near the Woodlawn Bridge, collided with a sugar cane tractor traveling in the opposite direction.
The accident occurred on Tuesday at approximately 11:30 a.m.
It is not known if the driver of the car hit the tractor or the subsolier the tractor was pulling.
The impact caused the white car to veer off the road and into a ditch. Fortunately, the tractor driver was not injured.

The Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Department is investigating the accident and blocked off Roosevelt Road Tuesday afternoon.

Punctuality, preparedness, and professionalism are attributes essential for success in any career. The field of education also requires patience, empathy, adaptability, a passion for learning and leadership, fortitude, integrity, and a love of people.
VC Assistant Principal Christine Dubois embodies those admirable qualities and more. She has influenced thousands of students, faculty, and parents.
In May of 2025, Dubois will retire after a 49-year career in Education. For the last 12 years, she has served as an assistant principal at Vermilion Catholic, a legacy of Mount Carmel, in Abbeville.
"I have worked with a wide variety of students from Pre-K through 12th grade, from low income to high income, from gifted to low performing students," Dubois said. "They have all touched me in different ways, and they have made me a better person."
Dubois earned a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and Special Education from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (1975). She is certified to teach first through eighth grades. Her Special Education certifications are in Mild / Moderate, Severe / Profound, and Learning Disabled.
In addition, Dubois earned a Master's degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from USL (1982). She was certified as a K-12 Principal, Special School Principal, and Parish Supervisor of Instruction.
"My first job was as a Special Education teacher at the Special Education Center in Vermilion Parish, teaching the Primary students in the Moderate / Severe class for seven years."
Next, Dubois assumed an administrative role.
"I became Principal of the Special Education Center for seven years," she said. "I was transferred to Eaton Park Elementary in Abbeville as Principal." She served there as an administrator for ten years.
"I then moved to Seventh Ward Elementary for nine years as principal," she said. "I retired from public schools with thirty-three years."
Next, Dubois worked part-time at Cathedral Carmel school in Lafayette for four years, teaching Enrichment to students in second through fourth grades. Then she moved back to Vermilion Catholic and taught part-time for one year while working part-time at Cathedral Carmel, teaching Study Skills.
"I then became the Assistant Principal when the position opened at Vermilion Catholic," Dubois said.
At VC she served as Assistant Principal for 12 years.
Mike Guilbeaux, VC principal from 2011 to 2022, hired Dubois.
"Christine did a great job managing students, teachers, and parents. She was a hard worker who cared," Guilbeaux said. "She was compassionate and understanding. She gave of herself and that is why she had a successful career."
The current VC principal, Dr. Stella Arabie of New Iberia, also has high praise for this remarkable educator.
"During my time with Mrs. Christine Dubois, I have come to know and respect her as the consummate professional educator and a Catholic servant leader," Dr. Arabie said. "Vermilion Catholic, a legacy of Mount Carmel, has certainly been blessed that she chose to return to her alma mater for her final years before retirement."
Looking forward, the new VC Assistant Principal for the 2025-2026 school year will be Amanda Trahan, the current VC Director of Academic Affairs. She has 15 years of experience in Education.
Trahan is a 2005 VC graduate. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, formerly USL (2010).
She is certified in Elementary Education and Middle School Math. Trahan further earned a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from American College of Education, Indiana (2012).
"It has been an honor to work closely with Ms. Christine and to have her as a mentor over the past few years," Trahan said. "While I know I cannot replace the depth of her knowledge about our school and community, I am grateful for the opportunity to continue her legacy. I look forward to being a familiar face for our families and helping to carry our traditions into the future."
Regarding the new assistant principal, Christine Dubois said, "I have been fortunate to work with my replacement during the second half of this school year. We have been able to communicate collaboratively on what is best for our school."
Dubois' hope for the future of VC is that it will continue to be a vibrant school that provides a Catholic education for those families who want their children to learn and grow in a faith-filled environment.
Through nearly half a century of the many changes and challenges in Education, Dubois noted that she has relied on her Faith to help sustain her.
"My Catholic faith has definitely enabled me to remain in Education for forty-nine years," she said. "I feel I have always been guided in each step of my journey by divine interventions."
Regarding the hardest part of being a school administrator, Dubois said, "The thing I have enjoyed the least is seeing how many, not all, students do not take responsibility for their actions."
Lauryn Lee, the VC assistant principal on the Lower Campus, remarked, "Ms. Christine was a true inspiration to all of us. Her deep love for her Catholic faith and Vermilion Catholic was beautiful to witness. She will be deeply missed."
Dr. Arabie agrees with that sentiment, saying, "Ms. Christine Dubois embodies the core values of our school community and has worked to form and preserve the culture and traditions that make our school a special place to learn and grow in Vermilion Parish. Her family has demonstrated devotion that spans five generations and will remain strong because she has worked tirelessly to ensure that the roots of every child and adult have been grown deeply by her steady and guiding presence over her many years. The entire Vermilion Catholic family is grateful for her service leadership and she will be missed!"
Christine Dubois and her husband, Gregory, will celebrate their 49 years of marriage in August. They have four adult children: Jeremy Dubois, Courtney Dubois Simon, Sarah Dubois LeMaire, and Grayson Dubois. They are grandparents to nine children with a tenth child expected in June.
The retiring educator offers these departing words of wisdom: "My advice would be to listen twice as much as you talk. All teachers should be good role models for their students and demonstrate the important values our students must learn."
No doubt, Christine Dubois will return to VC with her family to attend many more special occasions and athletic events. Like other administrators before her and those yet to come, she will encourage the legacy of Eagle pride and excellence to live on.
Forever positive.
Forever prayerful.
Forever powerful.
Forever present.

March 31, 1939 — May 24, 2025

ABBEVILLE — A Mass of Christian Burial for Mrs. Sarahmae Giroir Gastal, 86, will be held at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church on Thursday, May 29, 2025 at 2 p.m. with Fr. Nicolas Dupre officiating. Burial will follow at St. Mary Magdalen Cemetery.
Visitation will be held at Frioux-David Funeral Home of Abbeville on Wednesday, May 28, 2025 from 3 p.m. until 9 p.m. with a recitation of the rosary at 7 p.m. Visitation will resume on Thursday, May 29, 2025 from 8 a.m. until time of services.
A resident of Abbeville, Mrs. Sarahmae passed away on Saturday, May 24, 2025. She was born and raised in Assumption Parish, Bayou L'Ourse community. After the death of her husband, she went to nursing school, realizing she had the empathy to care for others. She was part of the 2nd graduating class for nursing school in Abbeville. She put her career on hold to raise her daughter. She started her career at Abbeville General Hospital and stayed there until she retired. She worked in all departments of the hospital but worked in the nursery/OB ward for the last twelve years of her employment. After retirement, she gave her time to take care of her family and friends.
She was an avid traveler. She travelled to all fifty states, as well as Mexico, all Providences of Canada a few times, and the Arctic Circle. She traveled to Rome for the 2000 Jubilee year and toured in Italy.
She was a member of the Ladies Alter Society, the Lay Carmelites, and was very active in the church. She cleaned the church in Esther for many years. She helped set up the Altar at the Vermilion Healthcare Center for the weekly mass. She would also dismantle the altar and wash the linens. She was an avid reader, and for years she would collect children’s books and go to all the elementary schools in Vermilion Parish and read to the children and give them each a book to take home. She was a long-time member and treasurer of Les Domestiques and the VVFC (of which she was literacy chair of the Vermilion Volunteers for Family and Community).
Mrs. Sarahmae is survived by her daughter, Angela Gastal Bernard and her husband Louis of Abbeville; her sister, Gladys Giroir Solar; her godchildren, Rosalie Ann Solar LaSalle and her husband Clayton, and Ricky James Solar and his wife Keri; her nephew, Robbie Paul Giroir; her niece, Heather Giroir LaSalle and her husband Greg; and many more nieces and nephews; and her sister-in law, Mary Ann Guillory Giroir.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Leo Joseph Gastal; her parents, Augustine Andri and Gladys Landry Giroir; her special friend, John Bennett Trahan; her sisters, Louann Giroir, Rosalie Giroir, and Nellie Giroir Fontenot and her husband John; her brothers, Paul Augustin Giroir, and Norman Jude Giroir; her brother-in law, Robert Jacob Solar; her nephew, Neilly Fontenot; and her niece, Sherry Ann Fontenot.
Angela gives eternal gratitude to Rosalie for the care, kindness, and love she gave to her nanny for her end of life care.
Frioux-David Funeral Home of Abbeville 2600 Charity St. (337)893-3777 will be handling the arrangements.