This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Jack Hughey of Alton displays his award and certificate for working 50 years in the brick laying business.

Jack Hughey is pictured at work in the 1980s.

Jack Hughey, along with his crew, are shown working on a pool.

Jack Hughey of Alton has marked 50 years as a brick layer. He was hard at work this past week laying cinder blocks on Bluff Street.

ALTON – After more than half a century, Jack Hughey, 69, of Alton, still manages to put in the hard work it takes to be a brick layer.

However, his 51-year journey almost never happened.

When Hughey was in kindergarten, he was involved in an accident involving a school bus on Fosterburg Road.

"I ran across the road to catch the bus," he said. "A car went around the bus and hit me. It knocked me 90 feet."

Initially doctors told Hughey he would not be able to walk again. After few months in a full body cast and extensive physical therapy, he was able to walk with crutches.

During that time, there were electrical workers out on Fosterburg Road. Hughey said he noticed they had these tall electrician boots. So he got a pair for Christmas and used them to walk without his crutches.

About a year later, he was able to walk without the boots.

Hughey is a third generation bricklayer, following his grandfather, John Lefler, and his father, Raymond Hughey. Hughey said that when his father returned from World War II, his grandfather showed him the trade. Then Raymond Hughey started his own business, “Hughey Masonry,” with his son joining him as an apprentice in 1971.

He worked alongside of his father until his death around 1983. Jack Hughey then took over the business and, three years later, launched Construction & Coatings Inc. He worked in commercial and industrial projects, relining acid brick and fire brick furnaces at Granite City Steel and Shell Oil, as well as other locations throughout the U.S. and relining furnaces in Colombia in 1988.  

In 2000 he became a superintendent for Hess Refractory, laying brick and relining furnaces until 2003. He then was asked to become a Health and Welfare and Defined Benefit Pension Administrator for the Southwest Illinois Bricklayers of Illinois.

He retired from that work in 2018. But he has kept his dues active and received his 50-year award in December. 

According to his wife, Myra, many residential and commercial jobs in the Riverbend were bricked by her husband and his father. While officially retired, he still helps family with brick and block projects.

"He is blessed to have 11 grandchildren, and they love watching him work on family projects," his wife said.

Dylan Suttles joined The Telegraph in Alton in January 2019. He covers Alton, Godfrey, education, health and new businesses in the Alton area.