Vox

Vanity of Vanities

DARTMOUTH alumni are proud of their college—as evidenced by their renowned support of the Alumni Fund and their faithful attendance at reunions. Big Greeners are also eager to trumpet their Dartmouth affiliation on their automobile license plates. The following were responses to a quest the MAGAZINE recently made for Dartmouth-related "vanity plates," as many states call personalized car licenses.

Our search for vanity plates was begun at the suggestion of John L. Gillespie '54. He had noticed "WA HOO" and "DART-55" on cars of Dartmouth fans at last fall's Yale game, and he figured there must be a good many more such plates. He himself, he said, had just applied for New York "JLG D-54" plates.

One of the most notable Dartmouth vanity plates is President Kemeny's "BASIC," referring to the computer language he developed on the Dartmouth; TimeSharing System. When our appeal for vanity plates appeared, Carl Rugen '33 wrote, "I hope you include Kemeny's 'BASIC.' Two years ago, on a trip to New Orleans, I saw an extra roll of 'software' in the hotel bathroom with the trade name 'Basic.' I removed the wrapper and sent it to a classmate in Hanover, asking him to present it to Kemeny if he thought the president could stand the joke. I later received a very amusing letter from Kemeny, who said I had broken the distance record—some time before one of his assistants had sent him a whole roll, with wrapper intact, from a motel in Myrtle Beach."

If Kemeny's plate is notable, the most noticeable vanity plates around campus are those on the fleet of College-owned cars—from "VOX 1" on a Cadillac limousine to "VOX 8" on a little Chevy Nova. The legend, of course, derives from the College motto and was selected for the College cars in 1962 at the suggestion of John Scotford '38.

Another "VOX" plate makes its home just across the river from Hanover in Wilder, Vt. Gail Sanderson, wife of Paul Sanderson '52, sports the same inscription on her car—a "Dasher Vox-wagon." (She admitted, however, that she chose the letters partly for their Dartmouth significance, but partly because she was working for a radio station at the time.)

A lot of alumni use vanity plates to communicate a class affiliation. From his "DART 78" Texas license, one can deduce not only whence Eric "Tex" Larson '78 hails but also when he graduated from the College; Scott Axford '78 drives around Burlington, Vt., with "DC 78" plates; and Bill DeStefano '46 has a Massachusetts license saying "1946 D."

A more involved series of numerical correlations was offered by Albert Martin '46, who lives at 46 Dartmouth Street in Rutland, Vt., and sports Vermont's appropriately greenand-white license plates saying "DC46." But that's not all. His neighbor Eva Hill, widow of John Hill '2O, lives down the road at, of course, 20 Dartmouth Street and drives a car with "1920" plates; and, to top it all off, her telephone number is 775-1920.

P.A. "Pete" Grey '19 and his wife Mary Lou of Chatham, Mass., also use vanity plates to inform the motoring public of his college classbut she's the one who drives the car emblazoned with the "DART 19" plates, while his license tag says "MLOU."

Eddie O'Brien '43 worked his initials as well as his class into his "OB-D43" plates, but noted it is a "pity there is hardly a story to go with it. I am frequently called 'OB' by my imaginative friends—the same people who call a black dog 'Blackie.' "

And then there was the alumnus who wanted to show that a Dartmouth education provides a solid grounding in the classics. Arabic numerals were too mundane for the late Kenneth Foley '24; a picture of his "XXIV" plates was sent in by his widow Ina.

Sometimes limitations on the number of letters on vanity plates require car-owners to be rather cryptic. As Arthur Nichols '45 spins along a California freeway, one wonders how many Golden Staters know that "DARTMTH" refers to "a small college" in New Hampshire.

Robert Dickgiesser '69 explained that his "GOGRN" plates are for "Go Green." And his wife's car bears "CJDC," the same plates he had in school. "In reality they stood for the family firm, Charles J. Dickgiesser and Company," he said. "But being an enterprising Colby roadtripper, I turned the initials into my best 'line': 'I always knew I'd marry someone from Colby, so I had the plates made to stand for 'Colby Junior and Dartmouth College.' " He concluded by noting that his wife is an alumna of Green Mountain College.

Michael Mohr 'B2, the lone undergraduate respondent to our quest, had the same idea as Dickgeisser. But California seems not to require such conciseness of carowners: His plate, pictured on an iciclefestooned car "outside Fayerweather Hall on March 11," reads "GO GREEN."

Finally, there was the respondent who sent in not a mere photograph, but an actual license plate, pleading lack of black-and-white film. Helen Brooks, widow of Donald Brooks '17, sent a 1958-vintage Vermont plate reading "DB17." She explained that when they moved to Vermont from New Jersey "and the anonymity of several million license plates," they decided to get personalized plates to mark their change of lifestyle. "When Don sent in for the 'DB17,' " she wrote, "a letter came from the Motor Vehicles Department saying those letters were available, but would he please explain their significance." Her husband had been class secretary or treasurer for nearly 40 years, she said, so he "just sent them a 1917 letterhead listing the of- ficers in the margin, with his check for the new plates."

JLG D-54 NEW YORK

75 LIVE FREE OR DIE BASICNEW HAMPSHIRE

GREEN MOUNTAINS VOX VERMONT

MAR TEXAS 80 DART 78

DC46 VERMONT

DART 19 MASSACHUSETTS

LIVE FREE OR DIE OB-D43 NEW HAMPSHIRE

LIVE FREE OR DIE XXIV NEW HAHPSHIRE

NOVATO CHLIFORNIA DARTMTH ROBINSON

GOGRN CONNECTICUT CONSTITUTION STATE CJDC CONNECTICUT

CHLIFORNIA GO GREEN

DB17 SEE., VERMONT 58,.