Year Inducted: 2014
Abigail Aldrich Rockefeller - Abigail Aldrich Rockefeller, 1874-1948, was the daughter of U.S. Sen. Nelson Aldrich, patron of the arts, and advocate for women's rights. She worked with her husband, John D. Rockefeller Jr., in restoration of Colonial Williamsburg. Through her marriage to financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., she was a prominent member of the Rockefeller family…
Albert T. Klyberg - Albert T. Klyberg, a native of New Jersey, came to Rhode Island in 1968 after completing his doctoral courses at the University of Michigan. His purpose was to assume the directorship of the staid Rhode Island Historical Society--a position he held with distinction for three decades. Upon arrival Al immediately recognized a deficit in the…
Ambassador J. William Middendorf II - John William Middendorf II of Little Compton was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 22, 1924. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1945 with a bachelor's degree in naval science after having served in World War II as an engineering officer and navigator aboard LCS 53. He then earned an A.B.…
Arthur “Artie” Cabral - Arthur "Artie" Cabral is a prominent drummer on the national and regional music scene whose first professional music job came at the age of 13. Artie has also served as president of the Providence Federation of Musicians, AFM 198-457, for the past eighteen years and has just been elected to another two-year term.
Bernard Thomas “Slick” Pina - Bernard Thomas "Slick" Pina, 1930-2013, was the oldest and most accomplished of three brothers from South Providence who dominated the local sports scene in the 1950s. Slick's brother Tommy followed him as a two-time all-state halfback at LaSalle Academy. Joe, who did not attend high school or college, compiled a remarkable record as an amateur…
Catherine O’Reilly Collette - Cathy Collette was born in North Providence, grew up in Harmony, and is a 1969 graduate of Rhode Island College. She began her illustrious career with the state Department of Elderly Affairs where she helped to organize workers and became active in her local union, an affiliate of the 1.3 million member American Federation of…
Chief Justice Edmund W. Flynn - Chief Justice Edmund W. Flynn, 1890-1957, Rhode Island’s longest-serving chief justice, graduate of Georgetown Law School, state representative from South Providence, legal scholar, architect of the “Bloodless Revolution,” and a draftsman of the two most recent digests of Rhode Island’s general laws (1938 and 1956). After graduation from Holy Cross College and Georgetown Law School,…
Colonel Everitte St. John Chaffee - Everitte St. John Chaffee is credited with developing standards of excellence for the Rhode Island State Police when he was appointed as its founding Superintendent on April 2, 1925. The appointment of Colonel Chafee as first Superintendent was not popular, but Gov. Aram J. Pothier, who selected Chaffee, and the General Assembly resisted any efforts…
Colonel Gonzalo Edward “Ned” Buxton Jr. - Gonzalo Edward "Ned" Buxton Jr. (1880-1949) was born in Kansas City, Mo., to Dr. G. Edward and Sarah A. Harrington Buxton. When he was a teenager, his family moved back to their Rhode Island ancestral home. Showing early signs of leadership and intelligence, Ned graduated from Worcester's Highland Military Academy in 1898 as class valedictorian.…
Governor William S. Flynn - Gov. William S. Flynn, (1885-1966) was a member of the Rhode Island State Senate from 1912 - 1914 and again from 1917 - 1922. He was Governor of Rhode Island from 1923 to 1925, and brother of Chief Justice Edmund Flynn and Coach John A. “Jack” Flynn. Flynn, a native of South Providence and the…
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt - Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, 1884-1970, great-grandson of shipping and railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt. He was a railroad executive, America’s Cup yachtsman with three Cup defenses, commodore of the New York Yacht Club, and originator of contract bridge. The third child and second son of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Erskine Smith and great-grandson of the shipping…
Isabelle Florence Ahearn O’Neill - Isabelle A. O'Neill was a stage and screen actor of the silent film era, a suffragist, and the first woman elected to the Rhode Island Legislature. She also served in the state Senate and, under President Franklin Roosevelt, in the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. She was born on June 8, 1880, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island,…
John “Jack” Anthony Flynn - John Anthony Flynn was the legendary baseball coach at Providence College. He was raised in South Providence when it was an Irish immigrant ghetto. As a boy, he lived very near the slaughterhouses where the neighborhood dogs went to feast on the scraps. That practice gave Jack’s area the derisive name “Dogtown.” Jack and his…
John D. Rockefeller Jr. - John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1878-1960, son and heir of the oil magnate, philanthropist, provided land on which the United Nations building is located, donated $6 million to Brown University, his alma mater, for the school's library. He was married to Abby Aldrich, daughter of U.S. Senator Nelson Aldrich. Their wedding was one of the most…
John R. Dionne - Woonsocket-born John Dionne, is the son of the late Raymond Dionne and Elizabeth (Krawczyk) Dionne. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy after dropping out of high school in the 11th grade, but he received a GED while in the Navy from the Rhode Island Department of Education. However, John is not known for his educational…
Justice Antonio Caposto - Justice Antonio Capotosto, 1879-1962, Harvard-educated lawyer and first Italian-American member of the Rhode Island Bar Association, assistant attorney general, Superior and Supreme Court justice, founder and first president of the Aurora Club.
Major General Morphis Albert Jamiel - Major General Morphis Albert Jamiel, 1922-2013, truly exemplified the very best of America. Born into the well-known Jamiel family of Warren in 1922, his parents were the late Albert and Mary Jamiel. He had twelve brothers and sisters. From this humble origin in the small town of Warren, he eventually carved out a notable career…
Mayor Joseph Henry Gainer - Joseph H. Gainer was born in Providence on January 18, 1878, the son of John and Margaret (Keogh) Gainer. His parents, Irish immigrants, settled in the city's North End and operated a grocery store on the corner of Branch and Charles Streets. Personal tragedy dogged the family in the early years. Gainer lost his father…
Thomas A. Verdi - Providence Police Department Major Thomas A. Verdi has achieved a level of performance in the field of law enforcement comparable to other notable Hall of Fame members such as Colonel Walter Stone, Major Lionel Benjamin, and Chief John Partington, founder of the federal Witness Protection Program--but Tom did it, in part, as an undercover cop…
Warren Alpert - Pursuing Health to Benefit Society "I wanted to be rich,' he told the Boston Globe very seriously in 1988, "so I could give my money away." That would all happen but not nearly as quickly has he might have hoped. He had graduated from BU in 1942, and by June 1944, he was a private…
