Sunday, September 1, 2019
Dear Margaret,
I’m so sorry that I am unable to be at the service to honor Dr Broussard’s amazing life and legacy. I am very thankful that I stopped by your house on the 8th and was able to spend some time with the two of you and hear his wonderful laugh one last time.
When I thought I’d be able to speak at the church, I realized I could go on for hours about Dr B and his many achievements and accomplishments. He was a brilliant man, a gifted physician, an expert cattleman, a respected community leader and a tireless advocate for the environment. I think most people locally are aware of the tremendous success he built at Florida Eye Associates and the unique vision he brought to life at Forever Florida. He certainly made his mark in the world and his legacy from these endeavors will live on.
These are some of the many reasons to admire and respect Dr B, but they are not the reasons we loved him.
We loved him because he was a one-of-a-kind, larger-than-life, truly authentic person in a world of copycats and fakes. There was no artifice, no pretense, no airs about him. He favored cowboy boots and horses and hard work and little white poodles. Anybody got a problem with that?
He was a stickler for rules as long as he made them. When he had an idea or a plan, he was a force to be reckoned with , who rarely took no for an answer. He didn’t talk about want he wanted to do- he acted on it. We loved him because he brought out the best in us . He demanded excellence from his staff, but to hear him say you were “plenty smart” was high praise indeed. When Dr B said you’d done a good job, you knew you really had.
We loved him because he cared about people. Future generations. The community. His employees. But most of all patients. Young, old, rich or poor, he treated patients as he would like to be treated regardless of their ability to pay. Many times gratified patients stopped by with bushels of tomatoes or home- cooked treats to try and repay his kindness.
I knew and worked with Dr B a for long time and i have so many memories – good, bad, happy sad, funny, bittersweet – that it’s hard to pick one favorite. But if I have to choose I’ll remember him at a barbecue for Florida Eye Staff out at the Crescent J. Everyone was enjoying a picnic lunch and listening to some country tunes when a rider in black appeared on the horizon. Dr B rode toward us and scooped up one of our ophthalmic techs and put her on the horse with him. It was a scene straight out of a Hollywood Western. The crowd went wild and Dr B was grinning from ear to ear. His two worlds were coming together and he was having a ball.
I will miss the joy in that grin and his wonderful laugh But in the words of a Hebrew proverb, I must not say in grief that he is no more, but live in thankfulness that he was. I am grateful to have known him.
Love, Trish
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