Hugh’s memorial party/wake was a great send-off for an unusual guy. About 60-70 friends from various times of his life--a former British girlfriend from CA, the current WGHS football coach, his brother, 20 from our class--came and told stories about him. Many of his WG buddies wore orange and black. Hugh would have loved it. Hugh’s estate paid for drinks & appetizers at C. J. Muggs, Hugh’s “refuge from everyday life” where “everybody knew his name.” His photo is now on the wall there with a little plaque that says “Gone Fishin’.”
What We Learned
He loved sports and excelled at many: baseball, basketball, fishing, football, skiing. He scouted all over the state for various basketball teams and even “advised” recent WG teams. His ideal woman, for whom he was always searching, was young, beautiful & tall so his children would all be basketball players. He dated many women but never committed. His philosophy with the ladies, he said, was the same as fishing: “catch…and release.” (Although we did learn that he married once in CA and brought his wife to our 10th WG reunion. Anyone remember, was she tall?)
He was totally politically incorrect and likely to say or do whatever came into his head. He dropped in at inappropriate times (ask Nancy Fares O’Donnell). Invited to visit a couple, he showed up with his clothes in paper bags and stayed for four weeks. In a national park, he was warned not to mess with the buffalo (per Paul Cornelius). He went up to one and made odd hand motions a la Crocodile Dundee, then walked away. Buffalo are not very bright and slow to react. Shortly afterward, when a ranger approached to feed this one, the buffalo chased the ranger all over in retaliation for Hugh’s shenanigans.
He was goofy and had a bizarre sense of humor. When he drove past a good-looking woman walking her dog, he would yell, “Hey, dog, nice human.”
His brother Roger said he repeated two constant lines learned from their father: “A two-year-old could do better than that” and “Leave things better than you found them so people will know you were there.”
He worked hard, owned lots of properties and appeared to be financially successful. But his most-cherished vehicles were a ’53 Chevy, the “green booger,” and a truck, “old green.” His houses had no furniture.
Upset with the path the U.S. government was taking by 2014, he took off for Mexico, that most stable (?) and economically successful (?) country. True to form, he took his mom’s vacuum cleaner and her 70’s console TV and his own unique philosophy of life. Hugh told no one he was sick. He hated doctors, lawyers, bankers, etc. so avoided them at all costs. The day after he died, his property manager in StL got a call from one of his new friends in Mexico, reporting Hugh’s death. At first, she thought it was a hoax!
What We Learned
He loved sports and excelled at many: baseball, basketball, fishing, football, skiing. He scouted all over the state for various basketball teams and even “advised” recent WG teams. His ideal woman, for whom he was always searching, was young, beautiful & tall so his children would all be basketball players. He dated many women but never committed. His philosophy with the ladies, he said, was the same as fishing: “catch…and release.” (Although we did learn that he married once in CA and brought his wife to our 10th WG reunion. Anyone remember, was she tall?)
He was totally politically incorrect and likely to say or do whatever came into his head. He dropped in at inappropriate times (ask Nancy Fares O’Donnell). Invited to visit a couple, he showed up with his clothes in paper bags and stayed for four weeks. In a national park, he was warned not to mess with the buffalo (per Paul Cornelius). He went up to one and made odd hand motions a la Crocodile Dundee, then walked away. Buffalo are not very bright and slow to react. Shortly afterward, when a ranger approached to feed this one, the buffalo chased the ranger all over in retaliation for Hugh’s shenanigans.
He was goofy and had a bizarre sense of humor. When he drove past a good-looking woman walking her dog, he would yell, “Hey, dog, nice human.”
His brother Roger said he repeated two constant lines learned from their father: “A two-year-old could do better than that” and “Leave things better than you found them so people will know you were there.”
He worked hard, owned lots of properties and appeared to be financially successful. But his most-cherished vehicles were a ’53 Chevy, the “green booger,” and a truck, “old green.” His houses had no furniture.
Upset with the path the U.S. government was taking by 2014, he took off for Mexico, that most stable (?) and economically successful (?) country. True to form, he took his mom’s vacuum cleaner and her 70’s console TV and his own unique philosophy of life. Hugh told no one he was sick. He hated doctors, lawyers, bankers, etc. so avoided them at all costs. The day after he died, his property manager in StL got a call from one of his new friends in Mexico, reporting Hugh’s death. At first, she thought it was a hoax!
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