Annual Ralph Chaplin Memorial

Start your Labor Day 2026 with us at our annual gravesite remembrance of Ralph Chaplin and his historic contributions to the Labor movement in the early part of the 20th century. The short memorial service will be held at his gravesite in Calvary Cemetery, in Tacoma. We have been meeting at his gravesite every Labor Day morning since September 6, 1999, because of a pledge Phil Lelli, longtime Longshore Local 23 leader, made to a dying Longshore 23 member and close personal friend, T. A. “Tiny” Tronson. Phil promised him that he would not let Ralph Chaplin’s place in Labor history be forgotten. Phil asked his son Vance, who was a Labor Council delegate at that time, to share his father’s promise with the other Delegates of the Labor Council and to invite the Delegates to join them – father and son – at Ralph’s gravesite on Labor Day morning in 1999. That invitation was the start of a 20+ year tradition of gathering together to reflect not only on Ralph Chaplin’s life and the inspirational words he left us but also to apply his experiences to the issues confronting working men and women in today’s difficult world. You are welcome to bring mementos to share from significant contract campaigns, Union solidarity buttons, flowers, and any other memorabilia demonstrating the commitment of today’s labor movement to continuing Brother Chaplin’s fight for a just world.