Dale Blewett (#1194)
Dale Wesley Blewett can be characterized by these three words: Character, Integrity, and Humility. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA on February 20, 1943. In 1961 Dale graduated from Penn Hills High School in Penn Hills, PA, just east of Pittsburgh. Dale married his lifelong love, Joanne in 1964. They were later blessed with two daughters, Cheryl and Laurel, five grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
Joining ALPCA at the 12th Annual Convention in June 1971 as member #1194, he instantly became active in the club, always ready to roll up his sleeves to help out. He began hosting meets all over Ohio. As a promoter of our club, he was a mentor to many young ALPCA members over the years, helping new members get started in license plate collecting, answering questions, providing a wealth of historical information, and helping them to find and acquire some of the more difficult license plates for their collections.
Dale held various ALPCA offices but most notably served as ALPCA President for two terms from 1993 thru 1996. He was an early advocate of the importance of maintaining a working relationship with the motor vehicle agencies and their staffs. As President, many of his changes laid the foundation for how ALPCA presents itself to DMVs and BMVs throughout the USA. Today, many of the most desirable plates in the annual donation auction come from the motor vehicle agencies themselves, creating an important revenue source for ALPCA. The annual Best Plate Award presentation expanded under Dale’s presidency, and continues to be well received by the winning jurisdiction each year, with many states now making the presentation a media event. Dale was known to prepare detailed historical presentations for public and government officials outlining the importance of license plate collecting. He focused on Ohio license plate history and ensured the ALPCA archives had the latest Ohio BMV information. Numerous BMV deputy registrars requested displays of Ohio plates from him, and he often loaned Ohio runs, sample runs and many other unique plates for temporary displays within state buildings. He received information directly from the Ohio BMV on the latest Ohio plates to be released, so he could share the information with the PLATES magazine editing staff in a timely manner.
Dale’s favorite pastime was fixing up old cars. Although owning about 60 different cars over the years, Dale joked that he enjoyed license plates due to the fact license plates were cheaper than cars. Dale was known to many as the master of humorous stories and puns, authoring many issues of his book, “Daley Humor”, no conversation with him was complete without one. Dale Blewett and his family resided in Cincinnati, Ohio for many years where Dale attended many ALPCA Ohio Regional Meets, hosted many local meets, and spread the word about how great ALPCA was. Dale continued over the years to be a mentor and an inspiration to many new collectors and youth in our hobby.
A great passion for Dale was his interest in Ohio Highway Patrol plates and Blue Ace plates. He specialized in these for years. Many ALPCA members have witnessed Dale’s award-winning police and Highway Patrol displays at ALPCA Conventions over the years.
In 1971, Dale Blewett designed the current ALPCA logo that we proudly use today. It is the trademark of ALPCA. A look in the 1971 ALPCA Newsletters determined it was a logo design contest, where four designs were presented to the members, who voted on Dale’s design as the winner. Our logo is recognized worldwide by many hobbyists because of the use of window decals, bumper stickers, business cards, webpage identifiers, and other publicity items used by members, the logo truly publicizes and promotes our great hobby worldwide.
Dale Blewett was regarded as an expert license plate restorer. He liked to specialize in challenging plates. Using his knowledge as a chemist, Dale would precisely color match any color, including learning and experimenting with a process to restore the chips on porcelain license plates. Many collectors in our club have received expertly restored license plates from Dale over the years in their collections.
Later in his life, Dale Blewett was able to sanction many tours of the “plate shop” at the Lebanon (OH) Correctional Institution for our members. Most recently he was involved in the planning of the 2023 Covington, KY International Convention by organizing many displays and inviting many attendees.
On the evening of December 4, 2023, we lost our ALPCA ambassador and Past-President Dale Blewett with his passing at 80 years of age. He will be greatly missed. On June 29th, 2024 we posthumously induct Dale W. Blewett into the ALPCA Hall of Fame.