[earthlight (Anne-Louise)]

Dear all,

We'd like to let you all know that Nick Williams passed away last night. He will be sorely missed by all who has ever known him.

I was just thinking about the years I have known Nick. I met him when I joined Brisbane Astronomical Society, back in 1991, and have worked with him through the years on various committees for conferences and club and he has helped me a lot with the Astrofest on-line forms. Many a night we've spent winding the hours away debating how to get a bigger newsletter or a speaker for a meeting or how to deal with forms. Nick was nearly always the last to leave meetings as the chatting usually ended up in solving a computer problem at someone's house. He was always there when our computers broke down and always ready to chat about any problem we had and some times into the very early hours. He was like myself and Tony always willing to lend a hand if he knew how to get it done, even if he didn't really have the time. I believe he was very lucky to find the love he found in Caroline. I know how much she loved him, the wedding this year in June was beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen Nick so happy. So different to when John Dobson said he had a bad mirror at an Astrofest one year.

Nick worked hard at astrophotography over the years. I think he was the first person to let me use his mount to take a shot. I still remember the possums at Archookoora scaring us with their growling when Tony was trying his hand at guiding. I think at every camp I ever went to Nick arrived after dark. The one time he actually arrived during the day he didn't set up till dusk saying he probably couldn't do it in daylight as he was so used to doing it in the dark.


We will greatly miss his insight, generosity and friendship. We would like to extend our condolences to Caroline and his family.

Sincerely
Anne-Louise and Tony Surma-Hawes