Mar 7, 2011

2011 Carnival Royalty Announced

The 2011 Queen of Carnival is Miss Jane Yvonne White, a Dean's List anthropology major at Vanderbilt University. She attended Metairie Park Country Day School and graduated from Philips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. Her parents are Mr. and Mrs. Harold Hunter White III.

Miss White was an honor roll student in high school and played varsity tennis and volleyball. She has been an active leader in her Kappa Delta sorority, and in 2008 traveled to Zimbabwe to work as a volunteer in a medical clinic.

On completion of her undergraduate studies, Miss White plans to attend law school. She has spent recent summers working in a State Attorney’s office and interning with a New Orleans Civil District Court Judge.

Many of Miss White's family members have been part of past Rex Courts, including her Great-Great-Aunt, Miss Elinor Bright Richardson, who reigned as Queen of Carnival in 1920, and her Great-Grandfather, Edgar Allen Gordon Bright, who was King of Carnival in 1956.

Rex 2011, Herschel L. Abbott, Jr.

Herschel L. Abbott, Jr., a New Orleans attorney and community leader, will reign as Rex, King of Carnival, 2011. Mr. Abbott came to New Orleans from Monroe, LA to attend Tulane University, where he earned Bachelor's and Juris Doctorate degrees. After service in the Air Force, including a tour of duty in Viet Nam, Mr. Abbott returned to New Orleans to practice law with the Jones, Walker law firm, where be became a Senior Partner and member of the Management Committee.

In 1991 Mr. Abbott joined BellSouth as Louisiana General Counsel, and increased responsibilities with BellSouth took him to Atlanta and Washington, D.C. In 2007 he returned to New Orleans and rejoined Jones, Walker as Special Counsel.

Throughout his career Mr. Abbott has devoted innumerable hours to serving and leading a wide range of community organizations. He has chaired the boards of the Business Council of New Orleans, Tulane University Medical Center, St. Martin's Episcopal School, Louise S. McGehee School, St. Thomas Community Health Center, and is Chairman-Elect of the National World War II Museum. He was the recipient of the Times-Picayune Loving Cup in 1999 in recognition of his tireless community service.

Mr. Abbott and his wife, Anne, are parents of two children, and grandparents of four grandchildren.
Additional information on Mr. Abbott is available here.