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Lilly Duval Stephens, 90, passed away peacefully at her home, surrounded by friends and family, on April 8, 2018. She was born and lived in Morgan City. Lilly was vibrant and active until her passing. In the earlier years of her life, Lilly enjoyed sewing. She was known to many in the community for her incredible sewing skills. Later in life, Lilly enjoyed visiting with friends and family and reminiscing about the past. She especially enjoyed long chats with her close friend, Mona Siracusa. Lilly never met a stranger and she loved talking to anyone she came across. Lilly also had a deep appreciation and love for our military service members and veterans.
Lilly is survived by two daughters, Rose Arceneaux and Hilda Middleton; five grandchildren, Leah Gussman Begley and husband Phil, Robert Gussman Jr., Jack Kennedy, Jason Arceneaux and John Arceneaux and wife Chastity; nine great-grandchildren, RJ Gussman and fiancée Faith, Remington, Emerald and Gage Begley, Samantha and Madison DeHart, and Ty, Braeden and Anna Arceneaux; three great-great-grandchildren, Baylee, Cambrie and Jaxson; siblings on the Morgan side of her family, Randolph and wife Mona, Harvey and wife Barbara, Linwood and wife Rose, Winston and companion Gwen, and Sherry; and many nieces and nephews.
Lilly was preceded in death by her husband, Delbert Stephens; son-in-law, Stephen Arceneaux; mother, Edna Duval Morgan; father, Dosey Duval; grandson, Kirk Bonner; Morgan siblings: Archie and Eddie; and Duval siblings: Paul, Gladis, Dorothy, Mildred, Pearl and Milton.
A Graveside service for Lilly will take place on Wednesday, April 11, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. at the Morgan City Cemetery. Following services, Lilly will be laid to rest next to her husband.

During National Volunteer Week (April 15-21), Morgan City residents have an opportunity to join a local volunteer team making a difference in children’s lives around the world in Jesus’ Name.
Each year approximately 150,000 U.S. volunteers help transform empty shoeboxes into tangible expressions of God’s love by packing them with fun toys, school supplies and hygiene items.
Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, partners with local churches worldwide to deliver these gifts to children suffering from poverty, natural disaster, war, terror, disease and famine. For many of these children, this is the first gift they have ever received.
“National Volunteer Week is a great time to consider how you can be a part of sharing the love of Christ with children in need around the world,” said Matt McClelland, an Operation Christmas Child regional director who oversees the Morgan City area.
“Without our team of dedicated volunteers, we could not reach millions of children each year with the hope of the Gospel.
If you are interested in joining a local team or applying for a leadership opportunity in the Morgan City area, visit samaritanspurse.org/volunteerwithOCC.
Operation Christmas Child has delivered more than 157 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 160 countries since 1993. This year, the local Bayou Country Louisana Area Team hopes to collect 5,133 shoebox gifts to contribute to the 2018 global goal of reaching more than 11 million children in need.

CHICAGO (AP) — Two popular stop-smoking drugs are as safe for the heart as nicotine patches and dummy pills, according to research requested by U.S. and European regulators.
The results come from an extension of a big study of Chantix and Zyban that earlier found no increased risks for severe psychiatric problems including suicidal behavior. Those findings were reported in 2016.
“It’s enormously reassuring,” said Dr. Nancy Rigotti, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Tobacco Research and Treatment Center. She was not involved in the research.
“We now know it’s a lot safer to use these drugs to help people quit smoking than to continue smoking, Rigotti said.
The original study involved 8,000 smokers randomly assigned to daily use of Pfizer’s Chantix, GlaxoSmithKline’s Zyban, nicotine patches or dummy pills for 12 weeks. The extended study tracked about 2,400 participants for a year.
During and after treatment, there were five heart-related deaths and 22 nonfatal heart attacks and strokes, pretty evenly distributed among the four groups. The few other heart problems also occurred at similar rates in each group.
The study was published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. It included adult smokers from the United States, Canada, Mexico and several European countries. In the original study, by the last three weeks of treatment, 34 percent of Chantix users had quit smoking, 23 percent of nicotine patch users, almost 23 percent of Zyban users and 13 percent of those on dummy pills.
Chantix blocks the effects of nicotine on the brain; Zyban is the brand name for a drug used for depression but it is thought to also affect brain regions linked with addictive behavior. Patches deliver small amounts of nicotine to help reduce smokers’ cravings. All are generally used short term.
The patches and prescription pills can potentially raise blood pressure and Chantix’s current packaging information includes warnings about a possible small increased risk for heart attacks and strokes in smokers with heart disease.
“The FDA is reviewing the findings of this study and substantial supporting documentation from the clinical trial, along with additional published medical literature, as we continue to evaluate this issue,” said Michael Felberbaum, a spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The companies paid for and conducted the post-approval studies at the request of the FDA and European Medicines Agency.
The researchers noted that the study didn’t include smokers with severe heart disease, although many had high blood pressure or other risks for heart problems. Dr. Neal Benowitz, the lead author and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said other recent studies have suggested the drugs are safe for smokers with severe heart disease.
—The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.