Surprise parties are fun and sometimes tricky to pull off.

Yet, the Maple Valley City Council pulled a big surprise off May 29 when it presented the 2012 Golden Maple Leaf award to Chuck Hardaway.

Hardaway was asked by Mayor Bill Allison to come to the meeting to discuss honoring the families of veterans during the Fourth of July celebration this year at Lake Wilderness.

Hardway has been working on a program to honor veterans and their families during the Fourth of July and he came to the May 29 council meeting to address the council… or so he thought.

He noticed there were a number of his friends from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5052 along with Lt. Gov. Brad Owen and his wife Linda, Sen. Cheryl Pflug and Valley Medical Center Commissioner Anthony Hemstad.

“I kept thinking something was strange,” Hardaway said. “I saw Brad and Linda and I wondered what the heck was going on.”

Before Hardaway was settled into his seat after speaking, Allison and Deputy Mayor Victoria Laise Jonas presented him with the award while the members of the council read the proclamation.

Owen, Pflug and Hemstad all talked about the many years they have known Hardaway and the work he has done for both the community, state and country.

His many community service accomplishments include serving as a member of the City Council, Tahoma School board, the Greater Maple Valley Area Council, the city’s first economic development commission and the years of service to veterans.

Hardaway served 22 years in the U.S. Air Force, flying more than 100 combat missions in Vietnam and retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1977.

He and his wife Marge have been married for 57 years. They have one son, John, 44, who is a physician and captain in the U. S. Navy. John Hardaway and his wife, Christina, have two children, William, 8 and Catherine, 5. He is currently stationed at the Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii.

After receiving the award, Hardaway said, “This was really wonderful. I wondered why Marge told me not to wear my blue jeans. The older you get, you see that what matters is family and friends. I have wonderful family, a lot of good friends and I left (the meeting) feeling really good.”