Commemoration Plaque for Rufus Rex, mascot of USS Wyoming 1932-1942

[paulb104]

I found this plaque for Rufus Rex, mascot of the USS Wyoming. I cannot find a thing about him except for one tidbit from the Baltimore Sun, "The grave marker for Rufus Rex, mascot of the battleship USS Wyoming is seen in Oakleigh Pet Cemetery." Sadly the page that was extracted from doesn't work so I don't know if there's more info to be attained. I contacted the newspaper via facebook, with a pic of the plaque, and hopefully they can pull up what Google is seeing.

[Brian Keith]

 Really nice plaque. If you do a search for that cemetery like I just did, you will find that it is somewhat neglected and has some controversy about it's condition. Very likely it was taken from the pet cemetery. At least is wasn't scrapped and melted.

BKW

[paulb104]

16 hours ago, Brian Keith said:

Very likely it was taken from the pet cemetery. 

What a horrible thought. For the record, I bought it at a retail establishment in PA...

[aznation]

Source:  Newspapers.com

 

Note:  Here's specifically about Rufus Rex and it mentions the bronze plaque.

 

 

[aznation]

Source:  Newspapers.com

 

Note:  Full article about how the cemetery came to be plus more.

 

 

[aznation]

Source:  Newspapers.com

 

Note:  Here's the full page with the article.

 

 

The_Evening_Sun_Fri__Nov_20__1942_.pdf

[paulb104]

That article is awesome. Thanks for sharing! I've reached out to some folks to check Rufus's headstone to ensure that my plaque isn't from there. I don't think it is. Mine is about 8"x14" and doesn't have any holes in it for mounting. On the back there are two small screws welded to it with picture wire strung between them for hanging.

 

EDIT: Now I *know* that mine isn't from the cemetery!!!  I just got a pic of the actual headstone from 2015. That plaque has screws in it affixing it to the stone. Mine doesn't have holes! I'm so relieved! That'd been so wrong if someone had stolen it.

[aznation]

14 minutes ago, paulb104 said:

That article is awesome. Thanks for sharing! I've reached out to some folks to check Rufus's headstone to ensure that my plaque isn't from there. I don't think it is. Mine is about 8"x14" and doesn't have any holes in it for mounting. On the back there are two small screws welded to it with picture wire strung between them for hanging.

 

EDIT: Now I *know* that mine isn't from the cemetery!!!  I just got a pic of the actual headstone from 2015. That plaque has screws in it affixing it to the stone. Mine doesn't have holes! I'm so relieved! That'd been so wrong if someone had stolen it.

 

You're welcome.  It is a very interesting article.  I could see that maybe two plaques were made, one for the grave marker, and perhaps a smaller one for Rufus' owner, Lieutenant Colonel Harold J. Conway and his wife.  Very cool plaque to have!

[paulb104]

1 hour ago, aznation said:

 

You're welcome.  It is a very interesting article.  I could see that maybe two plaques were made, one for the grave marker, and perhaps a smaller one for Rufus' owner, Lieutenant Colonel Harold J. Conway and his wife.  Very cool plaque to have!

We know now that there were at least three made. The 2ftx4ft referenced in the 1942 article, the one on the late Rufus's headstone, and the one I have...

[Brian Keith]

Really great research everyone! I'm very pleased to see the one in the cemetery is still there. The large one referenced may have been put on the ship. Were any yearbooks/cruse books published in that time that may show a photo of it on the ship? If I owned it, I'd print out all this information and attach it to the back of the plaque so the next owner has it at their fingertips.

Now, I must say this memorial plaque is a great piece!

Thanks for posting it!

BKW

[Wharfmaster]

This is a great Plaque. Can someone move this post to the Military Ships section of the forum so it will not be lost ? 

 

 

W

[aznation]

3 hours ago, Wharfmaster said:

This is a great Plaque. Can someone move this post to the Military Ships section of the forum so it will not be lost ? 

 

 

W

 

Done.  Moved to MILITARY SHIPS AND VESSELS section.

[paulb104]

On 4/13/2021 at 8:56 AM, Brian Keith said:

The large one referenced may have been put on the ship. Were any yearbooks/cruse books published in that time that may show a photo of it on the ship?

According to wiki, the Wyoming was decommissioned August 1947 (stricken from the Naval Vessel Registry in September), sold for scrapping in October, and finally began being dismantled in December. Would something like a 2 foot by 4 foot plaque (commemorating anything at all) have been removed first, or survived the scrapping process?