Juanita Mama T Thibeaux was a stalwart of Lafayette Parish education, serving as a substitute teacher long after she retired as one of the first Black principals in the district. She died Saturday at the age of 86, but not without leaving a legacy. Mama T, words cannot describe how loved she was by our school staff and students, said Leslie Sisk, secretary at David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy. She held a special place in every one of our hearts.
Thibeaux often served as a substitute at the school until retiring (again) in 2019. Wherever we needed her, she was there, Sisk said. We didn t just see her as a substitute; we saw her as Mama T. She saw us all as her babies.
Educator, civil rights trailblazer Juanita Thibeaux has died
Posted at 11:54 AM, Feb 24, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-24 19:24:34-05
Funeral services will be held on Friday, February 26 for Juanita Jackson Thibdeaux, a well-known Lafayette educator and civil rights trailblazer.
The service will be at 11:00 a.m. at Mount Calvary Baptist Church located at 414 South Weeks Street, New Iberia. For those who cannot attend in person, the funeral may be viewed online on the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church-New Iberia Facebook Page.
Services will be conducted by Reverend Mark Lewis, Pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist Church.
Thibeaux was a long-time educator in Lafayette parish, but before she was a teacher she helped integrate Lafayette s education systems. As a high school student, she led a strike that ended with black children allowed to ride parish school buses. After graduation, she was one of 80 black students who desegregated what is now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.