Meet Our Staff

Anastasius “Stacy” Avist

Managing Partner - Funeral Director

Stacy has been in the funeral industry for over 35 years. She earned a Associates Degree from Our Lady of Holy Cross College in New Orleans, Louisiana while attending college she started working part time at D.W. Rhodes Funeral Home where she met her true calling “The Funeral Industry” the rest is “as we say “History”.

Stacy holds her license as a funeral director in the states of Louisiana and Texas. She grew up in a small town of Buras, Louisiana - sixty-five miles South of New Orleans where she was a parishioner of Our Lady of Good Harbor Catholic Church. Stacy is a devote Catholic.

After hurricane Katrina, Stacy relocated to Corpus Christi, Texas where she worked as a funeral director at Seaside and Corpus Christi Funeral Homes. In 2016 she relocated to Houston. She is excited about being back with her Carriage Family and getting out into the Cypress and surrounding communities.

Stacy is a devoted daughter to her parents, Larry and Agnes, a loving sister to her brother, Steve and her nephews, Larry III and Lance and great nephew Levi. She is also a Ride or Die Saints Fan, “Who Dat”

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Christy Keller

Licensed Funeral Director & Office Coordinator

Christy Keller started working at the Cypress-Fairbanks Funeral home in October of 2017 as the office coordinator.  She was born and raised in Wharton, Texas and then went on to pursue a degree in business management at Sam Houston State University in 2002.  Prior to working here, she has worked with NAPA Auto Parts for ten years and ran the office for a fire protection company for fourteen years.  She enjoyed helping the families the location served so much that she got her degree in funeral service in 2019 and graduated from Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service.

Christy lives in Katy with her husband, three kids, and their dog and two cats.  When she is not spending time serving her families you can find her at the family farm in Fedor, Buna, Yoakum, or Matagorda beach.

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James W Smith, Jr.

Licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer

James started working at Cypress-Fairbanks Funeral Home in 2020.   He was born and raised in Galveston County, and he has been a part of the industry since 2008.  James started as a Crematory Operator, before advancing to dispatcher, overnight embalmer, then finally in 2010 he graduated from Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service here he obtained dual licensure shortly thereafter. 

James lives onsite at Cypress-Fairbanks Funeral Home, with his English Mastiff Leonidas. When he is not at work, you can find him flying planes at West Houston Airport, traveling, working out, riding motorcycles, working on old cars, or playing with Leonidas. 

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Simona Rohlf

Apprentice Funeral Director and Embalmer

As everyone is impacted by moments in their childhood, Simona knew early, that her calling was in the funeral industry. Her Romanian culture exposed her to not only wonderful food, but to the importance of community during hard times.

Simona, her husband Steven, and their Jack Russell Lebouche moved to Houston in 2017. Originally from Chicago where they married in 2014, they spent 3 years in Los Angeles where she began her pursuit of the funeral industry.

Simona’s grandmother passing in 2021 was the final step of encouragement she needed to leave her 12 years in childcare and fully pursue her dreams. She is currently enrolled at Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Services.

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Suzanne David

Ambassador

Suzanne Elizabeth "Susan" David was born on November 15, 1944 in Canton, Ohio.

She is a 1962 graduate of Mother McAuley High School in Chicago, Illinois.  Susan also  graduated in 1978 from  Duquesne University  in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a degree in education.

Susan is a memberof St. Maximilian Church, where she is devoted to volunteering her time and energy to the St. Maximilian Kolbe Kids.  She has also served as a Eucharistic Minister, and volunteers for the St. Maximilian Food Pantry.

She has also travelled to Guatemala and various countries for many years on missionary trips to serve the Mayan people.  Other missionary trips have included Nicaragua, El Salvador, Mexico, and the borders of Texas. 

In her leisure time, you might find Susan eating Mexican food, or petting her beloved cat, Mango. 

Cowana Santa Cruz-Simon

Receptionist

Cowana Santa Cruz-Simon was born and raised in New Orleans, La. where she graduated from  Joseph S. Clark High School.  Cowana is a die-hard N.O. Saints fan and love to cook New Orleans style food like seafood gumbo made from Roux and a good pot of red beans and rice.

Cowana moved to Houston, TX in 2015 after hurricane Katrina and opened a Cajun restaurant called Taste the Big Easy Restaurant and enjoyed making people happy with her food but she had a deeper desire to care for kids and the elderly and started a career as a childcare provider and caregiver for the elderly.

Cowana met and married the love of her life Pastor Weldon Simon who was in the trucking transport industry and they shortly after started a removal and mortuary transport company named W.L Simon Mortuary Transport.

Cowana became very intrigued with the funeral industry and landed a job as the receptionist at Cypress-Fairbanks FH and has a desire to learn as much as she can with hopes of one day becoming a funeral director!