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1949–1987 NAMED · THE CURRENT HOLDER A NAMED GAP · AS OF NOVEMBER 2026
the Polk directories name the branch's holders across four decades, in the State Offices lists and in their own household entries, and the roster they build is printed here whole, at exactly the strength each entry carries. The roster's last named holder stands in 1987, on the takeover's eve. The state-era managers after 1988 are not named in any public listing reached, and the current holder's name stands as this section's named gap — printed below with its settler, and assigned to the live audit that follows this package, rather than filled from any lesser source.
Paul Butler and John Shively, managers, 1949. The directory of 1949 names two men as the bureau's managers — "Paul Butler and John Shively mgrs." Two holders at once is the patronage system's fingerprint on this branch: the November 1958 wire account of the system (in the patronage article below) reports that the larger city branches' earnings "usually are split among a number of the party faithful," and South Bend's bureau opens its documented life shared exactly so. Which of the two men worked the counter, and which held the appointment, the directory does not say.
Thomas E. Bath, manager, 1956 — and the bureau in his own rooms. The directory of 1956 names "Thos E Bath" as the bureau's manager at 214 South Lafayette, and the same directory's street guide places the Bath insurance agency at 212–14 South Lafayette, the bureau's rooms inside the manager's own business address, with the state's Gross Income Tax Division beside it. The United Press account's phrase for the system — the manager's branch income came "usually in addition to the revenue from his regular business" — is, at this address, simply a description of the floor plan. The directory also names the bureau's office manager that year, a Mrs. Mildred M. — her surname is not legible in the digitized text, and it stands in the closing article as a gap with the printed directory as its settler. The distinction the directory draws is the era's own: the manager held the appointment; the office manager ran the room.
Mrs. Rowena W. ——, manager, 1963; Mrs. Alice M. ——, office manager. The directory of 1963 names the bureau's manager in her household entry as "Mrs Rowena W — mgr State Automobile License Bureau," her home at 52150 N. Myrtle Road, and its office manager as "Alice M — ofc mgr Automobile License Bur," of 810 Somerset Avenue. Both surnames are illegible in the digitized directory text — the family headings under which their entries stand did not survive the scan in readable form — and both stand in the closing article as named gaps, with the printed 1963 directory, at the St. Joseph County Public Library, as the settler that reads them off the paper page. The women themselves are not gaps: by 1963 the county seat's bureau was managed, at both of the directory's levels, by women whose given names and offices the record keeps.
Mary K. Whitman, office manager, 1971. The directory of 1971 names "Whitman Mary K (Wid Cal), ofc mgr State Auto License Bur," of 1429 E. South Street — the bureau then seated at 432 North Main.
Cath Moore, branch manager, 1976; Jack Ellis, manager, 1978. The directory of 1976 styles the branch's head "br mgr" — its household entries name "Cath Moore, br mgr State Auto License Bur," of 1507 E. Colfax Avenue — and the directory of 1978 names the manager outright in the State Offices list: "AUTOMOBILE LICENSE BUREAU, Jack Ellis Mgr, 333 Michigan St." Two further manager lines ride in these directories unattributed, and they are printed here as unattributed, because assigning them would be guessing: the directory of 1976 carries a second "mgr State Auto License Bur" whose holder resides in Mishawaka, and the directory of 1978 carries "Haak Delores, br mgr State Auto License Bur," with no seat named beside either.
Jeanette K. Moeller, branch manager, 1986–1987 — the last of the old line. The directories of 1986 and 1987 name "Mrs Jennette K Moeller, Br Mgr" (so 1986) and "Mrs Jeanette K Moeller, Br Mgr" (so 1987 — the given name's spelling differs between the two printings, and both stand as printed) at 333 South Michigan Street, telephone 233-2149. She is the last holder the directory record names, and she holds the branch on the eve of the commission takeover that ended the appointment system in July 1988: the "Automobile License Bureau" of the directories, with its party-appointed branch manager, survives in print to the threshold of the new order, and then the public record of this branch's management goes quiet — the state-era Bureau does not publish its branch managers' names in the listings, and no announcement or press item reached names a South Bend branch manager of the modern era. The current holder, as of November 2026, is therefore this section's standing named gap: GAP-SB-BMV-3 in the closing article, its settlers the Bureau's own announcements and the Tribune, and its live check assigned to Callahan's audit of this package.
Principal sources: Polk city directories of South Bend, 1949, 1956, 1963, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1986 and 1987 (State Offices lists, street guides and household entries, read in the digitized texts); United Press International report, November 1958 (the system's mechanics); Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, current branch record (November 2026 — the Commissioner's name only, at state level).