GROVES — Jason Braquet’s early Father’s Day lunch turned out to be much more on Friday.

Braquet, the father of four daughters, was named Groves Chamber of Commerce and Tourist Center’s Father of the Year during a surprise luncheon at Larry’s French Market and Cajun Restaurant.

Aslynn Braquet, 10,  penned the nomination letter to the chamber describing her very busy dad who brings the girls to dance, daycare and ‘everywhere we need to go,’ all while mixing in humor, encouragement and fatherly advice.

Standing next to her father in a back room at the Cajun restaurant, Aslynn read her letter aloud for the first time in front of her proud, emotion struck, father.

“There are so many wants to describe my father. So let’s just start off with, he is one of the most hard working people that I know. He helps out a lot, he brings my sisters and I to dancing, to daycare and everywhere we need to go,” Aslynn said. “He takes great care of us, he shows us how a man is supposed to be as a father and a husband, he makes everyday fun and complete.”

The father wiped a tear from his eye as Aslynn continued to read from her letter that she wrote, without help.

“The best part of him is that he is not serious all the time. Honestly he is so much more than a dad. He is not only good to my sisters and I, he is also good to my maw maw, paw paw and especially my mother,” she said. “He shows s how to put our foot down when we need to. When I was a young girl he told me, ‘look, you should never give up, when you want something go for it. Don’t give up, you’re like a shooting star, don’t go down keep trying until you achieve your life goal.”

Groves Chamber President Kent Manual presented the Father of the Year with a plaque during the event.

Braquet’s family, including his wife, Cheree; daughters Ashleigh, 18; Brenna, 7; and Brittyn, 5; his mother, Kathy Braquet, and “Paw Paw” Lloyd Braquet, 94.  

“I’m ecstatic,” mom Kathy Braquet said of her son’s new designation as Father of the Year. “He has four girls and he’s  an awesome dad but he had a good role model. They (family) work as a team. They really, really do.”

mmeaux@panews.com