Kevin Ramirez is a native of Morgan City, LA and longtime resident of Houma, LA. He attended Central Catholic High School in Morgan City and earned his bachelor’s degree in Management from Nicholls State University. He is currently the Director of Recruiting at GIS: Grand Isle Shipyard.

Kevin has dedicated over three decades of service to Vandebilt Catholic High School (VCHS) in roles from teacher, to coach, to volunteer, to board member. As Head Tennis Coach from 1990 to 2013, Kevin led the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams to an impressive career record of 297-13-2, securing 11 State Championship titles, 13 State Runners-up titles, and 36 Regional Championship titles. From 2009-2011, Kevin also stepped into the classroom to teach 8th and 11th grade Religion. Concurrently, he coached the 9th grade basketball team for two years.

Kevin’s dedication to the VCHS athletic programs continued with his involvement in the Terrier Club, where he began as an Executive Board Member in 2014. He served as President from 2016 to 2021 and stayed on as an executive board member through 2024. Under his leadership, the Terrier Club was able to raise funds for the athletic department; supporting facilities, maintenance, uniforms, and continuing education.

In conjunction with serving the Terrier Club, Kevin has also been a Consultative School Board member since 2016, taking the role as President in 2021. In this capacity, he acted as a liaison between the board, President, and Principal, facilitating monthly board meetings and attending subcommittee meetings focused on the categories of Spiritual Formation, Academics, Finances, and Facilities. Kevin has been instrumental in promoting Vandebilt Catholic as the local choice for private Catholic education and actively engaging the alumni community in supporting their alma mater.

Outside of Vandebilt Catholic, Kevin also supported St. Anthony of Padua Church as Confirmation Director from 2013-2022 and continues to volunteer as an Extraordinary minister and lector. He also assisted with the confirmation program at St. Francis de Sales from 2021-2023. He has worked over 20 class retreats at VCHS and served two years volunteering with the Men in Christ program on campus.

In his free time, Kevin enjoys playing tennis and golf, grilling and spending time with his family. He and his wife, Laura ‘84 have two daughters Ellie ‘19 and Claire ‘24.

Dr. Brian Parker is a 1998 Vandebilt Catholic graduate who currently resides in New Orleans, LA. While in high school, Brian was involved in many clubs including Chess Club, Latin Club, Campus Ministry, National Honor Society and was a member of the Vandebilt Catholic Regiment, as well as the football and track teams. He was voted Homecoming King, as well as Most Intelligent his senior year. He was also a member of the first VCHS Quiz Bowl team to win a state championship.

After high school, Brian attended Louisiana Tech University and earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering (summa cum laude.) He continued his school involvement at the collegiate level participating in the Band of Pride Marching Band, Jazz and Wind Ensembles and holding the Vice President title in the Kappa Kappa Psi National Band Service Fraternity. He was also Treasurer of the Alpha Eta Mu Beta Biomedical Engineering Honor Society. After his undergraduate studies, he attended medical school at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine in Shreveport, LA and graduated Doctor of Medicine in May 2008.

His medical training included a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center and a residency in Internal Medicine at Ochsner Clinic Foundation, where he received the Outstanding Resident Award in 2009.

As a visiting fellow at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, under the LSU Health Sciences Center Global Pulmonary Exchange Program, Brian presented on two significant topics in March 2014. These included “Hepatic Hydrothorax and Hepatopulmonary Disease” and “Life-Threatening Angioedema: Mechanisms and Treatment,” both delivered to the Department of Pulmonary Medicine. During his time in Vietnam, he also spent time at the Hanoi School of Public Health and presented “Experiments in Tobacco Taxation: Following the Money in the United States” to the Department of Graduate Education faculty and students.

At Thibodaux Regional Health System, Brian serves as a Physician specializing in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Since August 2015, he has held the position of Medical Director of the Critical Care Unit and, since November 2021, the Medical Director of Pulmonary Medicine. Additionally, he is the Head of Process Improvement and Care Transformation for Acute Respiratory Failure and Pneumonia. He has also been on the Medical Executive Committee since December 2021, and has been serving as the Chief of Medical Staff since December 2023.

Brian also holds the position of Medical Director at St. Joseph Hospice in Thibodaux, LA, a role he has been in since April 2018. Concurrently, he is also an Adjunct Professor and Medical Director for the Department of Cardiopulmonary Care Science at Fletcher Technical Community College in Houma, LA.

Brian has attended numerous conferences and specialized training programs including the American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Diego, CA, the American College of Chest Physician International Conference in New Orleans, LA, the Pulmonary Hypertension Association Conference in Atlanta, GA, and the Health Catalyst Analytics Summit in Salt Lake City, UT. Additionally, he completed the EBUS and Advanced Diagnostic Bronchoscopy training in Cambridge, MD and participated in the Health Catalyst Accelerated Practices Program in Salt Lake City, UT. Most recently, he attended the Mayo Clinic Multidisciplinary Update in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in Paradise Valley, AZ.

Brian is a member of the American College of Chest Physicians, American Thoracic Society, and the Louisiana Thoracic Society. He has also been published in the Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society and was a fellow delegate at the American Thoracic Society Hill Day in Washington, D.C.

At the request of Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, Brian was the Physician Representative for the State of Louisiana at the Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1, 2022.

Outside of work, Brian and his wife, Jamie enjoy spending time with their two children, Jude (9) and Elle (5). Brian enjoys music and sports. Although he doesn’t play trombone much anymore, he still enjoys attending concerts and festivals, as well as collecting and listening to old vinyl records. He is an avid Saints fan and attends games as much as he can.

Father Jay Baker is the middle child of Catherine Rogers Baker ‘53 and Harry Baker. He was born and baptized in St. Francis de Sales church parish and grew up with his family of five on a farm surrounded by sugarcane fields on Highway 311. As children, Fr. Jay and his siblings were involved in 4-H and Junior Leadership programs and his whole family participated in the Terrebonne Livestock Agricultural Fair Association. He and his siblings attended St. Francis de Sales Cathedral School, then Vandebilt Catholic. After graduating from VCHS in 1979, he worked his way through college at an oilfield service company on the airbase and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Louisiana State University. During his senior year of college, he was hired by an advertising agency in Baton Rouge, where he stayed on after graduation as an artist and graphic designer.

During this time, Fr. Jay also began a company with his mother and former art teacher from VCHS, where they designed costumes for krewes such as Houmas and Bacchus, decorated for carnival parties and weddings, and even designed and decorated a fleet of floats for krewes in Morgan City. Even after college, Fr. Jay remained a lector for St. Francis de Sales Cathedral and assisted in reinvigorating the youth ministry program. This is when he began to feel the call to priesthood.

Fr. Jay entered the seminary to discern his vocation in 1987. The following summer, he and five of his classmates worked in Temascalapas, a mission community in Central Mexico just around the Sierra Gorda Mountains from the pyramids. They lived in a garden shed behind the church and spent their days cleaning graveyards, repairing homes, and traveling around the 14 mission parishes of the Aztex descendants ministered to by the missionary priests there. Following that year, the seminary focused on the community of Sotuta in the Yucatan where Hurricane Gilberto had wreaked havoc. He had an additional five mission experiences working among the Mayan descendants living there.

During his seminary formation, Fr. Jay served the Student Government Association as Class Representative, Social Chair, and President. He completed his Clinical Pastoral Education at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital in the Houston Medical Center. His “parish” was the telemetry floor, where he had several interactions with Denton Cooley, M.D., a pioneer of cardiovascular surgery. He was even able to observe one of his surgeries from the operating theater. Fr. Jay graduated from Notre Dame Seminary summa cum laude with a Master’s Degree in Divinity and was in the last class to be ordained by the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux’s founding Shepherd, Bishop Warren Boudreaux.

While serving as Associate Pastor, Fr. Jay was appointed Vocations Director by Bishop Michael Jarrell. A few years later, he was assigned to study Canon Law at Universitè Saint-Paul in Ottawa, Ontario. He was one of 62 students from 26 countries. He was elected as class representative both years and earned his J.C.L (a licentiate) from Canada’s Pontifical University. 

When the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux was sede vacante after the Diocesan Administrator (Msgr. Latino) was named Bishop of Jackson, Fr. Jay was appointed Assistant to our Apostolic Administrator, Msgr. Songy in January 2003. On December 8, 2003, he was appointed Vicar General by Bishop Sam Jacobs. In 2013, he led the first of four pilgrimages to Rome on behalf of the diocese. In 2016, he led the first of five pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Fr. Jay was reappointed Vicar General by Bishop Shelton Fabre and served in that capacity until the Spring of 2017 when he was appointed Chancellor. In January of 2018, Bishop Fabre appointed Fr. Jay as Rector of St. Francis de Sales Cathedral. This was his first assignment in Terrebonne Parish over 25 years later, where he had been ordained.

Over the past six years, Fr. Jay has made a significant impact not only for St. Francis de Sales church parish and the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, but also St. Francis de Sales Cathedral school, where you can find him welcoming students in the morning drop-off line, in the dunk tank at the Halloween Bazaar, or even bowling with the Kids in Christ youth group on a Friday evening.

Since ordination, each bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thbodaux has assigned Fr. Jay to parishes with schools – St. Genevieve, Holy Cross, Holy Rosary, St. Thomas at Nicholls State University, St. Joseph, and St. Francis de Sales. As Fr. Jay recalled, “Pope Benedict XVI succinctly expressed the essence of Catholic education saying: it is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News.” He gives credit to being educated by the Marianites of Holy Cross, Brothers of the Sacred Heart and many faithful lay women and men who taught in the likeness of Jesus at both St. Francis de Sales and Vandebilt Catholic to the priest he is today.

Glenny Lee Castagnos Buquet was born in 1936 to Lee Joseph Castagos and Hazel Felix Castagnos. She is a lifelong resident of Houma. Studying under the tutelage of the Sisters of the Marianites of Holy Cross, she graduated from St. Francis de Sales Girls School in 1954. Glenny Lee went on to major in Speech/English education, graduating from Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI, now University of Louisiana at Lafayette) in 1958. Returning to Houma, she taught at Terrebonne High School for 2 years.

In 1961, Glenny Lee married Jimmy Buquet, Jr. They are the parents of three Vandebilt Catholic graduates; Andrée Buquet Casey ‘80, J.J. Buquet III ‘84, and Michelle Buquet Olsen ‘86. Among her nine grandchildren, four are Vandebilt Catholic graduates and one finished with the Brothers at Saint Stanislaus. Her legacy at VCHS continues as Andrée has served, and now J.J. is serving on the Vandebilt Catholic Consultative School Board.

Glenny Lee and her husband were both community volunteers. Jimmy served for four years as chairman of the VCHS fair, which involved the entire family. Glenny Lee, Jimmy, along with other parents founded a tutorial school for children with dyslexia (the precursor of the resource program at VCHS.) They were also contributors to multiple renovations around campus throughout the years, including a recent classroom renovation.

The Buquet family established several endowments. Among these are an endowed education scholarship at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL), a business school scholarship and speech scholarship at Nicholls State University (NSU), as well as an endowed scholarship at the Louisiana Center for Dyslexia at NSU.

Glenny Lee has been appointed to numerous boards, commissions, and task forces involved with education reform. In 1992, she was elected as the member from the Third District to the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education where she served 20 years, 5 years as President. Her priorities for education in the state were focused on K-12 literacy; improving student achievement through accountability at the school, district, and state levels; and working with colleges and universities to improve teaching education programs.

Glenny Lee was a founding member of the Dyslexia Society of South Louisiana and a founding board member of the Shedd Learning Center (a Saturday school to assist dyslexic children.) She also served as chairwoman of the Advisory Board of Directors for the Louisiana Center for Dyslexia at NSU. Currently, she serves on the Houma-Thibodaux Diocesan School Board, and is a board member of the Terrebonne Foundation for Academic Excellence (TFAE).

Glenny Lee’s goal has always been to help in any way she can. She has always put God first which has allowed her to use her time, talent, and treasure to give back to her community. In addition to supporting educational programs, over the past 4 decades Glenny Lee has also found time to support programs such as the American Cancer Society, New Orleans Hope Lodge, and is a graduate of Leadership Louisiana. She was a charter member and first president of the Junior Auxiliary of Houma. She has aided the progression of Southdown Museum, restoration of the plantation house, and began its docent program. She also serves as a CASA case volunteer.

In 1998, Glenny Lee was selected as Vandebilt Catholic Alumna of the Year, and in the same year, awarded as a SLI/USL College of Education Outstanding Alumni. In 2014, she was selected as The Houma Courier’s Most Useful Citizen. She was also recognized as the Houma Medical Auxiliary Volunteer Activist and received the Award Le Grande Dame of Houma.

Glenny Lee’s passion and drive continues today and is a constant reminder to us all that hard work and dedication does make an impactful difference in the lives of individuals and communities.