Fallen Bucks Co. K9 Officer With Montco Roots Is Remembered

ABINGTON, PA — The Warrington Township, Bucks County K9 officer who passed away last week at the age of 38 was an Abington native who had a strong connection to eastern Montgomery County.

Stephen Plum, Jr., who died last Monday, was born and raised in Abington Township and previously worked as an emergency dispatcher and served with a volunteer fire company in this community before becoming a police officer in neighboring Bucks County.

His father, Stephen Plum, Sr., is a retired Hatboro police officer who currently serves as the president of the volunteer Abington Fire Company.

Plum's untimely death came shortly after one of his best friends, Ryan Allen, a fellow K9 officer, passed away at 35 after suffering irreversible brain damage brought on by a heart attack caused by anaphylactic shock from a bee sting.

Plum had spoken during a memorial service for Allen last month at Graeme Park in Horsham Township that Patch had attended.

At the time, Plum spoke about the pain of losing Allen, who had become one of his best friends.

Allen was a police officer in Hatboro, the same community in which Plum's father previously worked as an officer.

During the service, Plum joked about how people sometimes quipped that the two had more than just a friendship relationship, and that family dinners were often missed at the Allen and Plum households because the two guys were hanging out together on their own 'dates.'

Whitney Allen, Ryan Allen's widow, who listened to Plum's loving comments about her husband at the April memorial service, spoke with Patch on Monday about Plum's death coming shortly after her own husband's untimely passing.

"He was just the most helpful person," Allen said about Plum stepping up and helping her family during their difficult time.

Ryan Allen was incapacitated with a brain injury for a number of months after suffering cardiac arrest from the bee sting reaction, and Plum would often come by the Allen household to help Whitney Allen with various things.

Allen said her husband and Plum formed a friendship around three years ago when each were in K9 training for their respective police departments.

Allen said she became fast friends with Plum's wife, Nancy, and the couples would often hang out together and spend special occasions together.

"We would have dinner as a family together on many, many nights," Allen said.

The fact that Plum and his family — which included five children — lived mere minutes away from the Allen's Doylestown home in Bucks County helped since it meant everybody got to see each other quite often.

While Plum was raised in Abington, Montgomery County, he ultimately established roots in Warwick, Bucks County, a township that neighbors Warrington, the community where Plum was employed as an officer, according to Allen.

Allen said her late husband and Plum had befriended each other while in the same K9 training group a few years back, and they pretty much became inseparable.

Allen's police dog was Louie and Plum was the handler of Murphy.

Allen said Plum was super helpful after her husband was hospitalized. Plum would help make sure Louie would get to the hospital to visit his handler. He would help out around the Allen household in any way he could. And he would "delegate things that needed to be done," Allen said.

Allen said Plum's death is a real loss for his family, her family, and the greater community. And the fact that it occurred so soon after her own husband's death was a real tragedy.

Others are also remembering Plum after his passing.

"The entire membership of the company gives our deepest condolences to Stephen Plum Jr's family, friends, colleagues, and the communities who have lost a dedicated protector," the Abington Fire Company posted to its Facebook page last week.

The fire company said that Plum was a "devoted husband, father, son, brother, and public servant," who took pride in his job as a Warrington K9 officer, as a volunteer with the Abington Fire Company and as a United States Marine.

"Plum Jr has a long history of protecting the many communities he has served," the fire company said in its post.

According to his obituary, Plum was a 2002 graduate of Abington High School who went on to earn a degree in criminal justice.

His obituary says that he spent time in Iraq while serving as a Marine.

Plum also spent some time working for the Abington Township Fire Marshal's Office and served as an EMT with the Second Alarmers Rescue Squad in Willow Grove.

He also previously worked for the Rockledge Borough and SEPTA police departments.

"Officer Plum was known for his kindness, infectious laugh, smile, and big heart, which impacted everyone around him...," his obituary states.

A cause of death for Plum has not yet been released.

A funeral mass for Plum is scheduled to be held this Friday at 11:30 a.m. at St. Cyril of Jerusalem Church at 1410 Almshouse Road in Jamison, Bucks County.

Friends, family and the law enforcement community will be received from 9 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.

Interment will follow the funeral mass at Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Bucks County.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help Plum's family. As of the publication of this story, it has raised more than $57,000.