October 30, 2015
Honk if you love PC
FRIARS for life
When Diane Desaulniers Littlefield ’82 and her brother, Robert Desaulniers ’84, were tennis players at Providence College, a PC fan gifted a Rhode Island FRIARS license plate to their parents, who put it on their children’s car.
“Fast forward 30 years, and I am still proudly driving around Rhode Island with this plate,” Littlefield said.
Her plate attracts attention. “On many occasions, we would come out from our dorms the morning after a big PC basketball or hockey win and a plate would be missing,” she said.
The registration has had its perks. A Friar basketball fan in the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles helped her replace all the stolen plates over the years. And when Littlefield and her husband went to a men’s ice hockey game against Boston College at Schneider Arena last season, they parked right near the Zamboni entrance.
Over the years, people have offered to purchase the plate from her.
“After all these years, there is absolutely no value I could ever place on this plate,” she said.
“The plate is not just about being a true Friar sports fanatic,” she said. “For me, it is also a daily reminder of the Christian values and education taught to me during my four years.”
So where will the plate go next? Littlefield has bequeathed the plate to her friends, John Cilli ’89 and Barbara Palombo Cilli ’87, men’s basketball season ticket holders. If they cannot accept, PC’s women’s athletics program will receive it.
A few good FRIARS
After Peter McCarthy ’60 moved to Washington, D.C., this year, he found the right person to carry his FRIARS license plate in Virginia.
McCarthy, a decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served two tours in Vietnam and as an aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson, passed his plate on to John Burke ’09, a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve who is a platoon commander of a unit in Ebensburg, Pa.
Burke, a government consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, met McCarthy at a networking event hosted by McCarthy’s company.
McCarthy’s vehicle isn’t lacking in Friars spirit in its new home, however. He registered FRIARS plates in Washington, too.
Sunshine State FRIARS
Duarte “Dee” Terrinca ’80 and his family chose this plate for their car when they moved to Florida in 1994.
“It’s a daily reminder of the great four years at Providence,” he said.
Old Dominion FRIARS
Jennifer Piehler Zickel ’97 got her first FRIAR 97 plate on her car as a PC student and transferred it from New York to Virginia when she moved in 1997. If she ever leaves the state, Zickel knows a willing taker — her classmate, Mary Shaffrey Brady ’97, who moved to Virginia in 2005.
Do you share your PC pride on your bumper? Show us! Take a picture of your license plate and send it along with a brief narrative to editormagazine@providence.edu.
