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NATCHEZ — Gabi Crousillac, who is the Vice President of Home with Heroes Foundation in Natchez, has served in the U.S. Army for 28 years, including 16 in active duty, before she retired as a major.

A native of Livonia, Louisiana, Crousillac first enlisted in the Louisiana Army National Guard 1989 for “free college tuition,” she said.

Her late husband Brad Cromie, who died just last month on Oct. 10, was also a veteran. He’d served 10 years in the U.S. Marine Corps.

“We were a joint military family, much to our children’s chagrin,” she said with a laugh.

The pair met in Memphis in 1991. They lovingly adopted Brighton, 12, and Brylee, 11, as their children in 2016.

Since moving to Natchez in 2021, they have been passionate about serving local charities including the Home with Heroes Foundation and making food deliveries for the Natchez Stewpot.

Crousillac spent 11 years in the National Guard and made it to Staff Sergeant. Through her years of service she worked as a surveyor, property masonry specialist, construction site supervisor and in the Skills Engineer Corps. Eleven years into her service she switched over to Army Reserves and got commissioned as an officer.

While in active duty, Crousillac said she served primarily in the southeastern United States in Texas and Alexandria, Virginia.

She was also deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012.

“I was responsible for human resources, contract management and life support, ensuring we had the supplies, laundry, food and vehicles — basically setting up a small city in another country and making sure that everyone who lived there had everything they needed to be successful.”

Crousillac said there was never really a time when supplies were scarce except one Christmas in 2011.

“All of our planes delayed because of the sand storms and we hadn’t had a delivery in two weeks or so,” she said. The supplies finally landed on Christmas eve, so Crousillac spent that Christmas going around the camp being Santa Claus and delivering “Christmas gifts,” like soap and toothpaste, she said.

Crousillac said she became in the Home With Heroes foundation through its founder, the late G. Mark LaFrancis, when she volunteered to star in a play he wrote two years ago called “Welcome Home Soldier.”

LaFrancis recruited veterans to fill crucial roles to make it seem as realistic as possible.

“My son Brighton was the main child character and I was the mom,” Crousillac said. “I did the costumes and got the uniforms to as best historically accurate as we could to Mark’s vision. From there I started to get involved with the foundation. He wanted to set up this museum because the original was kind of off the beaten path.”

The military museum and clothing bank that serviced veterans and their families started out at the old VFW building near Natchez Walmart, not very visible from the highway and was not ADA accessible.

The new museum opened just in time for Veterans Day in 2023 at 107 Jefferson Davis Blvd.

Crousillac said she’d worked at a military museum in New Orleans and also had experience in museum studies, making her well suited to help the process along.

“I started getting involved in helping open and eventually got put on the Board of Directors,” Crousillac said. “It’s a good addition to this community to have a facility both for educating civilians and to serve as a communal space for veterans, who make up a larger part of our community than people realize. I’d like to see foot traffic at the museum grow from both veterans using the services we have there and just people coming in to see what is there. We have an amazing group of volunteers who keep everything running.”

Crousillac said the museum is a place to get information about the many resources people don’t realize are available, especially veterans.

“Healthcare is the biggest one,” she said. There is also a computer there that is free to use.

Museum hours are Thursday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., she said.

This Veteran’s Day, one thing Crousillac said she wants civilians to remember is the reason the holiday exists.

“Memorial Day is to honor those who’ve passed away and Veteran’s Day is to honor all veterans and thank them for their service,” she said. “Whether that service was for two years or more, they’re still veterans.”

Crousillac also reminded the public of upcoming activities to honor veterans starting with a parade on Monday, Nov. 11, starting at 11 a.m. from Memorial Park to the bandstand on the Natchez bluff. Wreaths Across America donations, whether someone wants to purchase a wreath for a specific gravesite or make a general donation to place a wreath on the grave of any veteran, are accepted now through Nov. 22. Volunteers are also welcome and needed to place wreaths on more than 8,000 grave sites for Wreaths Across America Day on Dec. 14, she said. Wreath ceremonies take place at the Vidalia City Cemetery at 9 a.m., the Natchez National Cemetery at 11 a.m. followed by Greenlawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

Call 601-442-6103 for more information.