Ellen Stansbury Cavalier

New Iberia - A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 2:30pm on Thursday, January 12, 2023, at Nativity of Our Lady Catholic Church in New Iberia for Ellen Cavalier, 81, a gentle soul who, surrounded by family, slipped the bonds of this earth on Monday, January 9, 2023, and has made her way to meet her heavenly Father and long-missed loved ones.

Rev. Ed Degeyter will be the Celebrant.

Reading of the Holy Scripture will be Angel McAnally and Corey Cavalier. Gift bearers will be Mike Cavalier and Angie Pearce.  

Entombment will follow in the church mausoleum.

The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Pellerin Funeral Home in New Iberia from 10:00am until 1:45pm on Thursday.

A rosary, led by the Nativity Rosary Group, will be prayed at 11:30am Thursday.

Our dear, sweet momma grew up shy and unassuming in Morgan City, fell in love with the hometown football hero, married and moved to Lafayette then to Scott to begin her calling; a life of service and support to those people she loved dearest, the family she and Dave would create. She was the mother of four RAMbunctious boys and a precious, darling daughter. She was also a coach's wife and that meant many days being on the frontlines by herself, doing everything from bandaging up gashes and refereeing fights to setting up tea parties. She was always good to go if you needed an extra person to balance the teams for a backyard baseball game. She never missed a game and boy were there plenty of those. Whipping out PB & J sandwiches out of a bottomless paper bag while driving from one park to another. Batches of biscuits and pots of coffee for hungry coaches after Friday night football games. Quiet by nature, she could be the loudest voice in the stands when her boys were on the field. She was simply always there. She was the counterbalance to the strong force that Dave was on their family. A quiet, and sometimes not so quiet, steady reminder of what it meant to truly live the Golden Rule. She could be your confidant, your champion, your cohort-always without judgment and always with heaping amounts of love. She and our Dad’s house was the center of the universe for us on Sundays as her family grew, grandchildren coming in bunches. She was happiest when surrounded by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Filled with good food and rollicking good times, she would tell you those Sundays were the greatest days of her life. She cherished being Angel’s running buddy throughout her life, especially her years as Angel’s “teaching assistant” at North Lewis Elementary. She was a voracious reader who could discuss how her favorite authors’ writing style had changed over the course of their career. She was a History and Discovery channel aficionado, and she always loved a good piece of family gossip. In fact, if you wanted to know anything about our family you went to her. She could be very mischievous on occasion, and she spent the last two years of her life, stuck in a bed, as the epitome of grace under pressure. She was all you could ever ask for in a momma and a maw.

This larger than life woman leaves behind her daughter, Angel McAnally (Shannon); sons, Dave Cavalier III (Lynn), Corey Cavalier (Lynda), Mark Cavalier (Catherine) and Michael Cavalier (Angie); 14 grandchildren, Elaine Pritzker (Josh), Grant Cavalier, Anna Cavalier, Leah Champagne (Josh), Courtney Cavalier, Kristin McCullough (Matthew), Maeghan Albarado (Jordan), Christopher Cavalier, Claire Cavalier, Noelle Melton (Chris), Annie Cavalier, Mackenzie Badger (Lahr), Lindsay McAnally, and Brett McAnally; eight great grandchildren, Kaleb Cavalier, Finley Albarado, Dawson Albarado, Kayleigh McCullough, Jhett McCullough, Skye Hanisee, Henry Pritzker, Laura Pritzker; godchildren, Angie Pierce (Joe) and Bill Morgan (Stacy).

She was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Dave J Cavalier, Jr.; her parents, Norman and Mamie Stansbury; and her sister and brother-in-law, Nita and Bill Morgan.

Pallbearers will be Dave Cavalier III, Corey Cavalier, Mark Cavalier, Michael Cavalier, Christopher Cavalier and Grant Cavalier.

Honorary pallbearers will be Brett McAnally and Kaleb Cavalier.

The family would like to extend our deep thanks and appreciation to Christine Prejean, whose kindness, steadfastness, and love made our mother’s last years bearable.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Heart of Hospice, whose care was extraordinary.

Pellerin Funeral Home, 502 Jefferson Terrace Blvd., New Iberia, LA 70560, (337-365-3331).