Hugh Williams, 1952-2019

Hugh Williams of Carbondale IL passed away from heart failure on May 22 at age 67. Originally from Grayslake IL, Hugh lived many years in Champaign before returning to college to get his bachelor's, master's and law degrees. He was an attorney in Carbondale for the last 15 years and became an author, publishing five books.

Hugh was an outstanding bridge player and volunteer. For 25 years, he chaired the Partnership Desk at the Illini Regional.

Nate Ward shared this remembrance of his friendship with Hugh.

I met Hugh at a computer lab at the University of Illinois when I was 14 years old. We were both there because of a common interest in computer games, specifically multi-player computer games. That shared interest grew into a lifelong friendship.

During that time, I have met and made friends with a multitude of people because of Hugh. I have learned the value of friendship, generosity, frankness, and perhaps most importantly, integrity. During the next few years, Hugh was as much a friend as a father to me, both of which I needed desperately at the time of my life.

Two years later, having grown tired of the games we were playing, we decided we would try to make one on our own. I handled all the programming, while Hugh handled all the design of the game. We would spend all night discussing aspects of the game, and, after a few months, Hugh had a spiral-bound notebook full of everything we wanted. By this time, it was the start of summer and I was spending every waking moment at the computer lab trying to make our dreams a reality. Even though Hugh knew nothing about computer programming, he was there with me, every step of the way.

By the middle of the fall, we were ready to show the game to other people. We took their feedback to refine it and were ready to release it to the public at the end of the year. It was a huge success, and something we continued to work on for several years to come.

A year later, I started college and soon discovered the game of bridge. A group of us would play every night, even though we knew very little about the game. But I knew Hugh played, so I asked him to teach me. When he initially refused, I was very taken aback and asked him why. He told me that it was not a game to be taken lightly, and if I was really interested, he would teach me after I read a book.

A few days later he gave me a copy of Five Weeks to Winning Bridge. I read it that night. Hugh quizzed me to make sure I had actually read it, and then my bridge education truly began. He told me declarer play was easy to learn and had me read Watson’s. Defense was the next hardest part, but I would get that over time. Bidding, however, was the hardest part of the game. Hugh told me I couldn’t readily learn that from books, but he had a solution. We would spend hours dealing out hands from a partial deck, Hugh having removed most of the lower cards.

After a few months, I was ready for the next step: Duplicate Bridge. Hugh took me out to Karen and Mike’s game at the Paradise Inn, where I played with another friend in the Novice game. We won. The next week we played in the open game. We didn’t do nearly as well, but we were hooked, and became instant regulars. After every game, I would spend hours going over the hands with Hugh.

During our discussion one week, I lamented that one opponent was so good he seemed to always know the whole hand before the dummy even came down. “Atul is too good. How can you beat someone like this?” I asked.  Hugh said if that was my attitude, I should quit playing the game. This was the single greatest thing he ever taught me, not just about bridge, but life in general.

After a while, I had become good enough that Hugh was willing to play with me. We had a fair amount of success, and a lot of that I owe to the trust we had in each other.

Outside of bridge, we both struggled for a while. I was fortunate enough to meet, and later marry, someone who helped pull me up out of the mess I had made of my life. When I did finally graduate from college, 8 years after having first started, Hugh was there, happy as can be for me.

 It was not long after that Hugh decided it was time to do the same, and after getting his Associates Degree from Parkland College, he took the next step and enrolled at ISU in Bloomington. Before you knew it, he had graduated with a master’s degree. I was so happy for him.

One night soon after that we were having dinner with friends and Hugh told me he wanted to talk to me. We spent the rest of the night talking about Law School and whether it was a realistic goal for him. I did all I could to encourage him.

Three years later, to no one’s surprise, Hugh had graduated. Then he passed the bar exam. When he could not get hired at a law firm, he started his own. Not only did he get clients, but he won their cases. Again, not only was I so happy for him, I also was not surprised. Whenever I would see a mutual acquaintance, I could not wait to tell them that Hugh was a lawyer now.

As the years passed, Hugh found his passion outside of work in writing books. I remember a conversation about his first book, where he told me the plot of the story and what the experience was like. The amount of excitement he had was overwhelming, and it was awe-inspiring. I was glad he found something to be so passionate about.

Hugh was not only a great friend; he was also a great person. I would not be the person I am today without having known him. I love you Hugh, and I will miss you greatly.

  -- Nate Ward, Champaign IL