Memorial Tributes

Jesus said unto them, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live,
even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” John 11:25-26

Elaine was a 30-year resident of Youngsville, LA where she lived with her loving husband of 33 years, Gary Randolph Bell, also of Youngsville. Born in Crowley, LA, she graduated in 1973 from Notre Dame High School of Acadia Parish. She went on to attend and graduate from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Elaine was a member of LCRA and was the Director for the cancer registry at Lafayette General Medical Center for 23 years. She retired back in 2013 when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer then was later diagnosed with Breast cancer in 2020. She was such a beautiful soul.

Dianne was a devoted friend, stepmother, sister, and co-worker and experienced so much joy in helping and doing for others. She worked at Mary Bird Perkins and Our Lady of the Lake for over 20 years and held a deep affection for her tumor registry extended family. She was passionate about her work and absolutely loved working with the tumor registry community. She made numerous friendships throughout the state and was the expert at anything and everything related to tumor conferences. Dianne enjoyed taking annual bus trips and traveling across the country. She would start planning the next trip as soon as one ended.

Melanie was a loving and devoted wife and mother and was a dedicated champion for quality cancer data acquisition. During her tenure of 30 years for the Louisiana state cancer registry, Melanie served as both Director and Region 8 Coordinator for the North Louisiana Regional Tumor Registry. Those who worked with her recognized Melanie as a strong advocate and key figure in the training, mentoring, and support of a myriad of central and hospital registrars across North Louisiana. Her friends and many of her Louisiana regional and central office colleagues remember her kindness and sweetness. She was like a family member, and we enjoyed her kinship. She has lost her life to the disease to which she devoted her life’s work and left behind an army of professionals who are heartbroken over the loss of such an amazing colleague but also eternally grateful for the love and nurturing she afforded so many new professional registrars.

Brigitte truly was a valued member of LCRA. She served as the LCRA President from 2016-2017 and was voted as LCRA’s most distinguished member in 2018. Throughout her career, Brigitte consistently demonstrated her passion for the Cancer Registry field, as well as her willingness to assist her fellow colleagues in any way she could. She was dedicated to her profession and will be greatly missed by everyone.