Della Stansbury

Published 1:45 pm Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Funeral services for Mrs. Della Migues Stansbury, 95, will be conducted Wednesday, October 28, 2015, at 1:30 p.m. at Acadian Funeral Home with Pastor Scott Bullock of The First United Methodist Church of New Iberia officiating. Interment will follow at Holy Family Cemetery on Curtis Lane.

Visitation will be held on Tuesday from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Acadian Funeral Home. The funeral home will reopen on Wednesday at 9 a.m. until service time. Interment will follow at Holy Family Cemetery on Curtis Lane.

Mrs. Stansbury passed away on Friday, October 23, 2015, at her New Iberia residence.

Della was born on December 7, 1919, to Mr. and Mrs. Arthé (Ar-Tay) Migues. Mrs. Migues was the former Noah Charpentier. She was raised in New Iberia near where the port is now on 20 acres her father bought in 1929 and spent 30 years farming to help pay off the farm. She was a student at Peebles Elementary and graduated in 1939 with a 4.0 average from New Iberia High School. She was the editor of “The Grit” the school newspaper and was one of the National Youth Administration which paid young people during the Depression to work in their school and assist administration. This paid her $2 a month to work one hour a day, a considerable sum, being some men were working for a nickel a day!

Della chose to attend SLI or what is now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and pursue a business career. The family egg money went towards tuition, which was $3 a semester. She would attend for two years.

She would meet her future husband at a graduation ceremony and within a short time he proposed to her under an oak tree still there at the site of the former Peebles School.

In 1941, she married Jacob G. Stansbury Sr. Mr. Stansbury had enlisted in the Army. They were married at the First Methodist Church just six days after Pearl Harbor was attacked. They traveled around the U.S. for about a year where he received training as mechanic for military aircraft. Jacob would spend time in North Africa and the China-Burma-India Theater while Della had returned home to New Iberia. Della’s greatest fear was that of the Western Union man showing up on a bicycle to deliver bad news. That did not happen.

Jacob was welcomed home and had a great career in oilfield equipment sales and as the real estate broker for Jacob G. Stansbury Commercial Real Estate Company. He also was an appraiser for numerous banks and financial institutions, investment counselor and was part owner of a bowling alley.

Della was a devoted mother and loving wife. She also helped with her husband’s oilfield work during the 50s. She worked for a year for Judge Simon as a legal secretary. She worked during the war effort for Schlumberger. In 1965 she and Gert Doerle opened Doerle’s Early American Mart in Torrido Village. The partnership lasted three years. Gert and Della enjoyed the gift shop very much. In 1968, she decided to make history and become the first lady police officer of the New Iberia Police Department. During that time she also made history by growing marijuana to train the police to what it looked like and how it smelled when it was burning. She worked for the City Police for 20 years and retired with full pension and benefits.

Thanks are due over the years to Dr. George Cousin and staff, Dr. Paul Gullota and staff, Dr. Jason Landry and staff, Dr. Samir Salama and staff, Iberia Medical Center, The Exceptional Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center doctors, nurses, Pallative Care and nursing assistants, Iberia Rehabilitation Hospital, Belle Teche Nursing Home, Oceans Behaviour Center, Acadian Ambulance and her caregivers from Synergy. A special thanks to Heart of Hospice and the caring staff of Acadian Funeral Home.

Special, special thanks to Chris Thibodeaux, Becky Boudreaux, Mary Boudreaux and George Reeves.

Left behind to cherish her memory are her sons Jacob Stansbury Jr., William “Bill” Stansbury and wife, Lynda, Steven “Mr. Stanz” Stansbury and partner Alvin Stutts, and Lottie Minick, like a daughter to her; an aunt Winnie Landry; three grandchildren Jacob Stansbury III and wife, Lori, Heather Winkleman and Holly Beard and husband, Glenn. She is also survived by four great-grandchildren Bethany Stansbury, Abbey Stansbury, Tucker Winkleman and Jacob Bryant Stansbury IV; and her loving godchild Rita Broussard, a lifelong blessing to Della and family.

Della, was preceded in death by her loving husband of 72 years, Jacob George Stansbury Sr.; her parents, Arthé and Noah Charpentier Migues; a baby brother; and numerous aunts and uncles; and Rita Broussard’s husband, Rene Broussard.

Pallbearers include George Reeves, Jacob Stansbury Jr., Bill Stansbury, Steven Stansbury, Jacob Stansbury III and Alvin Stutts.

To view guestbook, please visit this website www.acadianfuneralhome.net.

Acadian Funeral Home of New Iberia is in charge of the services, 364-6162.