Bunkie City Council pays tribute to long-time dispatcher

Long-time police dispatcher Roxanne Carmouche Pepis was honored by the Bunkie City Council at its July 8 meeting.

Pepis died after a lengthy illness on June 13, just four days shy of her 50th birthday.

Councilman Travis Armand recalled that he knew Roxanne when they rode the same school bus in the late 1970s. They remained friends and members of a "gang of benign hooligans" who grew up together, he added.

Armand said Roxanne "most cherished and was exceedingly proud of her time at the Bunkie Police Department, under the guidance of her close confidant and mentor, Chief Mary Fanara."

He said his childhood friend "epitomized so many of the ideals to which we aspire and admire -- toughness, tenderness, fairness, loyalty, compassion, justice, empathy and balance. She believed in them, espoused them and championed them."

Roxanne left this world way too soon -- much sooner than any of us expected or wanted," Armand continued, "but what an impact she had in that short period of time."