HARRINGTON and WESLACO, Texas – Capt. Ralph Crawford “Bud” Plummer, 79, retired senior Panama Canal pilot, master mariner and beloved husband of Dorothy (Wester) Plummer, passed away Aug. 26, 2006, after a long illness. He was born Dec. 17, 1926, in Harrington, the son of Lester L. Plummer and Doris Nash Plummer. His aunt and uncle, Edith Nash Cole and Capt. Grover C. Cole, played an important role in his upbringing. He graduated from a one-room public high school in Harrington in 1945. Bud knew from a young age that he wanted to carry on a family tradition of life at sea, following his grandfather, three uncles and two cousins who were ship captains and who took Bud out on the water as a child in rowboats. He enrolled at the Maine Maritime Academy and made his first transit through the Panama Canal on the academy’s training ship in 1945. He graduated with the fifth graduating class from the academy in 1947, with a third mate’s license. In his early career, he worked on ships hauling lumber, steel and ore, traveling between the United States and ports in Peru, Chile, Brazil and several European countries. During this phase of his career, Bud sailed with several shipping companies, all of which were making the transition from wartime to a commercial shipping economy. One of these companies was Bethlehem Steel, in the employment of which Bud rose in skill and experience from third mate to captain. He met his future wife, Dorothy, while he was in port at Portland, Ore. They married in 1952 and during the 1950s, lived in Portland, Ore., and ports on the East Coast, including Baltimore. Bud felt he knew the Atlantic Ocean “too well,” having endured two hurricanes at sea in 1958. Bud then worked as a Panama Canal pilot from 1960 to 1989, working his way up the ranks of the merchant marine. He felt he had the very best job in the merchant marine as senior Panama Canal pilot. He loved his work and was a consummate professional, as evidenced by an experience piloting the Battleship New Jersey through the canal. Locks in the Panama Canal are precisely 110 feet wide, bordered on each side by one-foot wide rubber cushions, making the effective width of the canal exactly 108 feet. The Battleship New Jersey was 108.4 feet wide. Bud’s task was to line up the 800-foot long battleship so that it could pass through the canal. His skill in communicating with his crew, both on and off the ship, enabled him to execute this passage successfully. Bud’s superb piloting skills were tapped extensively and he piloted thousands of ships through the canal, including ships up to the 950-foot maximum length that could make the passage through the canal. When Bud and Dorothy were not in the Canal Zone, they returned to Harrington and wintered in Weslaco, Texas. After retiring in 1989, Bud and “Dottie” traveled extensively by motor home throughout the United States and Canada and went twice to Norway to visit Dottie’s relatives there. Bud and Dottie enjoyed bird hunting and fishing from a cottage they built on Portage Lake in Aroostook County. Bud is survived by his wife of nearly 54 years, Dorothy of Harrington; as well as a half brother, Roy L. Plummer of Virginia; a stepbrother, Philip Callahan of the Philadelphia area; two sisters-in-law, Helen Magnuson of Minneapolis, Minn., and Sylvia Flint of Fargo, N.D.; and several cousins. A service will be held 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1, at the Harrington Baptist Church, One Forest Hill Lane, Harrington. Burial will be held after the service at Forest Hill Cemetery, Harrington. A time of fellowship will be in the church hall after the committal prayers at the cemetery. Bud was a Shriner, Gatun Lodge, Panama. Donations may be made in his memory to the Shriners Hospitals for Children – Twin Cities, attention donations, 2025 East River Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55414.
CAPT. RALPH C. PLUMMER
