Bud Weymouth '20 the Answer Man

For 22 summers beginning in 1954, Burdette "Bud" Weymouth was ambassador extraordinary for Dartmouth College, Hanover, and the Upper Valley as manager of the distinctive information booth on the edge of the Dartmouth green.

When he left the little white kiosk in early September of 1975, a spry and sprightly 77 years old, he had handled queries from more than 150,000 people. Ever the teacher, he always went beyond the immediate question to add an anecdote or an insight about the North Country.

He has continued himself to be a regular visitor to the booth even after retirement from that job that his wife, Alice, says happily involved him with three loves of his life Dartmouth, from which he was graduated in 1920; Hanover, to which he first returned 39 years ago; and people.

But, according to Everett Wood, Dartmouth '38, a former skier for the Big Green and a retired Pan American Airline pilot who has manned the booth since 1976, "Bud" did not come back to the booth to ask questions. Rather, he visited it to find out if Wood, as his successor, needed any answers.

Weymouth knew well that visitors had uncanny ways of asking questions that were stumpers, even for the history buff and long-time teacher he had been for more than 30 years. For instance, recalls Wood, "Bud used to quiz me to be sure I knew such statistics as the exact height of Baker Library tower (197 feet) or the age of Dartmouth (50 years) when in 1818 the U.S. Supreme handed down its decision in the famed Dartmouth College Case that has since become one of the most frequently cited precedents in American constitutional law."

In recognition of his long and loving service to Dartmouth and Hanover, a bench honoring Bud Weymouth has now been'installed on the east side of the Green next to where the information gazebo stands each summer, and where he was so long a familiar figure that returning visitors still ask for him.

The bench, which, like the booth, is a joint project of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce and the College, was dedicated recently in a brief ceremony attended by his wife, the former Alice a cousin, Clark Weymouth, Dartmouth '26 of Hanover; Roger Clarkson '75, president of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce; Orton H. Hicks '21, of Hanover, vice president emeritus of Dartmouth, and Mr. Wood '38. A substantial portion of the funds for the bench were provided by the Kevin and Eleanor Smith fund in honor of Mr. Smith's 1920 classmate.

Bud himself was absent, having suffered a wrenching fall that aggravated the effects of an earlier stroke, but his wife took a report of the dedication to him at the Hanover Health Terrace, where he is undergoing treatment.

At the dedication, Ev Wood reminisced, "Bud loved to talk to anyone and everyone and answer questions no matter how insignificant or remote they might be from the Hanover or New Hampshire scene. And he never gave up on an inquiry, sometimes spending days getting the correct answer before sending the information to the inquirer by carefully hand-written letter.

"He believed completely in the truth of the phrase, 'One never knows it all,' but he believed equally that one must keep on learning anyway."

The inscription on the bench reminding new generations of his gentle presence is as modest as he would like it to be:

Burdette (Bud) Weymouth Manager 1954-1975

Dartmouth-Hanover Information Booth

Several figures familiar to Hanoverians chat prior to the dedication ceremonies on the green honoringBud Weymouth '20. Front row left to right, Richard W. "Blinker" Black '29. Roger Clarkson75 Alice Wright Weymouth, and Clark "Tubba" Weymouth '26. Standing behind the bench areOrt Hicks '21 and Ev Wood '38.