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1999 PARADE GRAND MARSHAL

Ralph Harrison Plumb, Jr.

Ralph was born on October 17, 1950 in Bath, N.Y. to Newport native Sarah Barker Plumb and native Vermonter (and Welsh/Irish-American) Ralph H. Plumb. Sr. Ralph grew up in New Jersey and enjoyed summer vacations in Newport with relatives and of course ski trips to his grandparents home in Vermont.

Ralph attended University of Rhode Island where he was a member of the Phi Mu Delta Fraternity, captain of the freshman football team and met his future wife, Portsmouth native, Pat Stinton Plumb.

After working in Newport in the summers before and after his freshman year at U.R.I., Ralph decided to change his career plans from law to restaurant management and transferred to Cornell University in Ithaca, NY where he graduated in 1974 with a degree in Hotel Administration.

Ralph worked for Victoria Station, Inc. for five years from 1974 – 1979 opening and managing restaurants all over the U.S. He and Pat moved nine times in his five years with the company.

Ralph and Pat moved back to Newport in 1979, purchasing the Brick Alley Pub in 1980 from Ralph’s good friend, the late Tom Gamon, Sr.

Ralph was a founding director of the RI Hospitality and Tourism Association, a director of the Newport County YMCA, Portsmouth Youth Football, Portsmouth Little League, Portsmouth Summer Soccer, YMCA Basketball, T-Ball and Soccer. Ralph was named Volunteer of the Year at the Newport County YMCA in 1986.

Ralph lives in Portsmouth with Pat and their sons Matt and Ralph III. Although Ralph has as much Irish blood in him as there is in Vermouth in one of Denny Cunninghams Crown Royal Manhattans, he has stated that he considers being named “Grand Marshal” of the 199 St. Patrick’s Day Parade as one of the proudest moments in his life.

The mother of the late Mary Gomes, Mary Reidy Carlise has accorded Ralph the great honor of leading the parade with her late fathers’s Mike Reixdy, shillelagh.

Ralp and Pat are looking forward to their first trip to Ireland in May.