Gov. Mapp orders flags lowered after death of Helen Sebastien Gabriel

Gov. Kenneth E. Mapp said on May 29, 2018, that Helen Sebastien Gabriel had died and ordered Virgin Islands flags lowered to half-staff until sunset on the date of her interment.

Government House said Gabriel worked for 30 years in the Virgin Islands government before retiring. It said she also led the Sebastien Majorettes and helped bring the territory to national and international baton-twirling competitions, including a fifth-place finish in Belgium in 2009.

According to Government House, Gabriel mentored thousands of young people in the Virgin Islands and helped develop several other territorial baton-twirling organizations. It said she was inducted in 2005 into the National Baton Twirling Association Hall of Fame as its first and only African American woman honoree.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/virgin-islanders-mourn-the-loss-of-a-twirling-pioneer/