Inductees from 2002

Catherine R. (Arnold) Williams (1790-1872)
Categories: Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Women

Catharine R. (Arnold) Williams (1790-1872) of Providence was one of Rhode Island's major literary figures of the nineteenth century. She was the daughter of Alfred Arnold, a sea captain, and Amey Read. Her mother died when Catharine was a child, so the oft-absent father entrusted her education and upbringing to two of her aunts. Read more >
Pasquale "Pat"/"Doc" J. Abbruzzi (1932-1998)
Categories: Sports - Football

Pat Abruzzi is considered one of the best athletes to come out of Rhode Island. Born in Warren on August 29, 1932, Pat was raised in Warren and attended local schools. He played football for Warren High School and was named All Class C football running back in 1948 and 1949. During his senior year he was also named All State football running back. Read more >
Senator Philip Allen (1785-1865)
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Famous RI Families, Government & Politics, Industry - Jewelry

Allen, Philip, 1785-1865

Senator Philip Allen (1785-1865) of Providence was a merchant, a textile magnate, a reform governor (1851-53), and a one-term United States Senator (1853-1859). The brother of Zachariah Allen, noted inventor and industrialist, and the uncle of Thomas Wilson Dorr, Allen was also prominent in banking and insurance.

A graduate of Brown University (Class of 1803), Philip Allen was Rhode Island’s most prominent political figure of the early 1850s. He was chosen governor as a Democrat in the April elections of 1851, 1852, and 1853. Read more >
Chief Justice Samuel Ames (1806-1865)
Categories: Government & Politics, Law / Legal Pioneers

Ames, Samuel, 1806-1865

Chief Justice Samuel Ames (1806-1865) of Providence served in many public capacities including state legislator, speaker of the house, and quartermaster general of the state militia. His most significant service was as chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court (1856-1865).

Ames studied at Phillips-Andover Academy and graduated from Brown University in 1823. He read law for two years under the direction of Samuel W. Read more >
Elizabeth Buffum Chace (1806-1899)
Categories: Civic Leaders, Civil Rights / Abolitionists, Women

Elizabeth Buffum Chace, the first woman to be memorialized with a statue in the Rhode Island State House, was an antislavery activist and a pioneering advocate for women’s suffrage. The daughter of abolitionist leader Arnold Buffum, she married fellow Quaker Samuel Chace, a Fall River textile manufacturer. The Chaces had ten children; tragically the oldest five died of ilnesses before the second five were born.

Chace first became publicly active in the cause of abolition in 1835 when she and two sisters helped to organize the Fall River Female Anti-Slavery Society, which was allied with the radical wing of the antislavery movement led by William Lloyd Garrison. Read more >
Peter J. & Robert L. Farrelly

Thomas Robinson Hazard (1797-1886)

Categories: Agriculture / Farming, Civic Leaders, Civil Rights / Abolitionists, Famous RI Families

Hazard, Thomas R. (Thomas Robinson), 1797-1886

Thomas Robinson Hazard was a South Kingstown manufacturer, agriculturalist, author, and social reformer who embodied the egalitarian spirit of the pre-Civil War age of reform.

Affectionately called “Shepard Tom” because of his prize sheep herd, Hazard was a seventh generation descendant of Thomas Hazard, the progenitor of the famous Hazard clan of Rhode Island and one of the nine founders of Newport. He was also the grandson of Thomas Hazard (1720-1798), an eighteenth-century South County Quaker abolitionist called “College Tom” because of his advanced study at Yale, and the older brother of Rowland Gibson Hazard (1801-1888), a noted Peace Dale woolen manufacturer, railroad promoter, and writer on philosophical subjects. Read more >

Leona McElroy Kelly (1919-2000)
Categories: Education & Universities, Government & Politics, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Women

Former Rhode Island Representative from South Kingstown.

Leona A. Kelley was born in Providence on August 15, 1919. She attended Classical High School and the University of Rhode Island graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1941. Read more >
Dr. Joseph J. Loferski
Categories: Education & Universities, Technology & Science

Loferski, J. J. (Joseph John)

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Inductees from 2002

Catherine R. (Arnold) Williams (1790-1872)

Pasquale "Pat"/"Doc" J. Abbruzzi (1932-1998)

Senator Philip Allen (1785-1865)

Chief Justice Samuel Ames (1806-1865)

Elizabeth Buffum Chace (1806-1899)

Peter J. & Robert L. Farrelly

Thomas Robinson Hazard (1797-1886)

Leona McElroy Kelly (1919-2000)

Dr. Joseph J. Loferski

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