I have an ancient Sprint Galaxy 6S with some Samsung software that I wish was not on it. I have tried removing it but it destabilizes the OS. I will never use it. I would think the "canonical" Android release would be avoiding this stuff. Doesn't it?
Found it!
Settings >> Home Screen >> Widgets (on bottom of screen) >> Contacts
Pick one of three (full contact, direct dial, direct message), move it to screen location, choose contact.