Parker Towing Company Christens 2 Boats to Honor Women Who Led There

Wednesday was a day of celebration mixed with mourning as the Tuscaloosa-based barge operator Parker Towing Company christened two towboats in honor of women who've worked there.

Friends, family and deckhands gathered at Parker Towing's Office and dock on 3rd Street in Northport to honor the women and break bottles on the ships named for them - the Beverly Jo Smith and the LaDonna Rubio.

The event drew a crowd who were merry but mournful - LaDonna Rubio, PTC's longtime Executive Administrative Assistant, died on Tuesday after battling a medical issue for the last year or so.

Get our free mobile app

The Beverly Jo Smith was christened first and renamed Parker Towing's mv Mary Ethel in honor of Smith, their longtime office manager first hired in 1989.

As is maritime tradition, she was on deck Wednesday morning to shatter a bottle of champagne on the towboat in honor of her new name.

Tim Parker Jr., the chairman of the Parker Towing Company Board, said the boat will be working mostly in the Gulf Coast and around the harbor in Mobile - a critical leg of their operations.

Next, the former mv Touchstone Energy was christened the mv LaDonna Rubio, who passed away Tuesday. A moment of silence was broken by three blasts from one of the towboat's bone-rattling horns.

"In the maritime world, there's tradition for a fallen sailor, and the three-signal symbolizes a job well done and respect," Parker said. "That's a tradition that's gone back a long time in the maritime world and we're honored to do that for Donna."

Down the dock, Rubio's son Adam and her daughter Mary broke a bottle to christen the ship which will now bear her name.

"I have every confidence that Donna is looking down on us today, seeing her vessel, and seeing Adam and Mary and her granddaughters, their children here," Parker said.

He said the mv LaDonna Rubio will primarily service the upper end of the Warrior River and move barges in that region.

Parker Towing is one of the largest barge lines in the Southeast and boasts a powerful fleet of several hundred towboats.

For more coverage of news from west Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.