A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for Mrs. Renee Lillian Aubry Vandiver at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Peter’s Catholic Church with the Rev. Charles Langlois officiating. Interment will follow in St. Peter’s Cemetery.

The family requests that visiting hours be observed from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Evangeline Funeral Home with a 7 p.m. rosary.  The funeral home will reopen from 8 a.m. until time of services  Thursday.

A native of New Iberia and longtime resident of College Station, Texas, Mrs. Vandiver died at 8:48 a.m. Monday, Jan. 7, 2008, at The Woodlands Memorial Hospital in the Woodlands, Texas.

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Renee was born on Nov. 7, 1929, in New Iberia to Harold George Aubry and Josephine Brown Aubry.  The family lived in Cuba at Macarania Plantation until 1932 when they returned to Louisiana to reside at St. John Plantation. After graduating from the Convent of Mercy and reigning as queen of the New Iberia Sugar Cane Festival, Renee entered Sophie Newcombe College and earned her BFA. She was then awarded an arts fellowship to the Sorbonne University in Paris.  While at Newcombe, Renee joined Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority and was honored by serving every year on the Tulane Homecoming Court and also as princess of the Rose Bowl Parade in Sacramento, Calif. representing Tulane University.  

In 1952, she married Shreveport lawyer Arthur Roderick Carmody Jr. (div. 1979). They had eight children.  While in Shreveport she served on the Junior League, furthered her fine arts training at Centenary College, and enjoyed an active social life influenced by her elegance and style. Her interests included cooking, sewing, gardening, reading, playing the piano, and interior design, but most of all the art of conversation and the beloved companionship of her children. In 1980, Renee married the late Civil War Historian Frank Everson Vandiver and settled in College Station, Texas where Dr. Vandiver was president of Texas A&M University from 1981 to 1988.  During the 1980s and 90s, Renee traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and South America eventually residing in Cairo, Egypt during the late 90s while Dr. Vandiver was president of the American University in Cairo. She continued her love of painting and the arts while in Cairo studying under the city’s most notable painters.

Mrs. Vandiver is survived by her children Helen Bragg Carmody Stroud (Dan) of The Woodlands, Renee Carmody Mathews (Walker) of Nashville, Tenn., Arthur Roderick Carmody, III (Jacquie) of Shreveport, Patrick Gerard Carmody of New York City, Timothy Aubry Carmody of Seattle, Mary Cormody Hart (Darren) of New Albany, Ohio, Virginia Carmody Gunn (Gary) of Houston and Joseph Barry Carmody (Penny) of College Station, Texas; also her sisters Joellyn Aubry Delcambre and Babette Aubry Dauterive of New Iberia, as well as 21 grandchildren.  

In lieu of flowers, Mrs. Vandiver requested that donations be made to the Daughters of the American Revolution or the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans.

Evangeline Funeral Homes, 314 East St. Peter St., New Iberia, 70560, (337) 364-1881, is in charge of arrangements.