Krewe De La Soiree introduced their
Royal Court at their 6th annual Mardi Ball
on January 19 at the Lake Charles Civic
Center. They started their party with a fun
Ball theme of Havana Nights.
Duke and Duchess John and Laura Gibson
reside in Westlake and are both originally
from the Lake Area. John is an electrical
engineer at Ford, Bacon and Davis and Laura
is a Civil Engineer at LADOTD.
Their family includes their children
Bo, Susie, Cameron Gibson, the late Lee
and Heidi Gibson, Angelle Boettner, and
Ryan Stelly. The Gibsons both like to donate
their time to the Sam Houston High
School Band Boosters. John enjoys gardening
tropical plants, raising chickens, ducks
and geese and enjoying good food and
drink.
Laura enjoys hanging out with friends
and family, playing with her grandbabies
and cooking. Th e Gibsons have been Krewe
members of for 2 years.
Duke Jed Cormier was born and raised
in Lake Charles. He works in the hospitality
industry at the Golden Nugget and has
recently graduated from Sowela Technical
College. Jed is a member of Christ of King
Catholic Church and enjoys cooking, hunting,
and hanging out with friends. He also
enjoys traveling, and journeyed all over the
world before the age of 20. Jed has been a
Krewe member for two years.
Duchess Christy Lynn Richard was born
and raised in DeQuincy and works in outside
sales. A member of Our Lady of Lasalette
Catholic Church, she donates her time there
by making food baskets.
Christy enjoys the outdoors, going to the
river, riding horses, mud-riding and going
to every event and activity her busy kids are
involved in. She has three children, McKenna
Paige Lejeune, Dylan Michael Lejeune and
Hannah Marie Lejeune. Christy has been a
Krewe member for three years.
Our Krewe De La Soiree King and
Queen V are Robert and Raina Whaley.
Th e Whaleys are residents of Sulphur. Raina
is from Gueydan and Robert was born at
Bitburg Air Force Base, Germany. Th ey have
been married for 23 years and have one son
Christopher, an Army veteran and a current
student at McNeese. King Robert graduated
from McNeese with a B.S. in electrical engineering
and is the owner of Total Technology
Solutions. He is member of the Institute
62 • MARDI GRAS SOUTHWEST • FEBRUARY 24, 2020
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and
the former president of the College Chapter.
Robert enjoys the outdoors, running, reading
and traveling, and spending time with family
and friends.
Queen Raina graduated from McNeese
State University with a Bachelor of Science in
management and was a member of the Mc-
Neese Marching Band and McNeese’s student
chapter of the Society for Human Resource
Management. She is an inductee of Mc-
Neese’s Chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma and is
currently a member of the McNeese Alumni
Association. Raina is a Registered Landman
and Notary and is currently employed by
Tower Land and Company and the William
B. Lawton Family Limited Partnership. She
is also a Senior Landman for Total Land
Services and a member of the American Association
of Professional Landmen, an active
local member of the Lafayette, Ark-La-Tex
and Houston Associations of Professional
Landmen and a member of the Louisiana
Notary Association. She is also a founding
member of Th e Lake Charles Happy Hour
Rotary Club. She enjoys spending time with
family and friends, cooking, sewing, and
traveling with her partner in crime, Robert.