Hanover resident Nardi Campion and her dinner parties have almost become an institution in these parts, but she eschews the idea of herself as a member of high society.
Invitations to an evening of good food and conversation at the Campions are prized by family friends and acquaintances at the College who are lucky enough to receive them.
For such a little woman, Campion, who has no relation to the store on Main Street, has a high profile in the community.
"She has an ability to generate and sustain a conversation that is quite rare. You can't be around for long and not know who Nardi is," said Associate College Counsel Sean Gorman, who has had the opportunity to dine with Hanover's favorite hostess.
Campion said modestly that she declines the honor.
"I think there is a high society in Hanover, and we are not very much part of it. They are people who are retired CEOs and have money and who still live the way they lived when they were CEOs," Campion said. "And that means a lot of cocktail parties. I happen to be married to a man who will not go to a cocktail party. Pretty soon you're not invited when people realize you're anti-cocktail party."
Sitting across from Campion - perched sideways in one of the four plush chairs arranged thoughtfully around the fireplace - it is, indeed, difficult to imagine her in a pretentious scene of hors d'oeuvres and country club conversation.
"What Tom and I enjoy and have friends who enjoy is an evening with some content," Campion said. "If I had a dream situation it would be to have a salon with wonderful food and conversation to match."
"Lacking that though, I do think we have an interest in the life of the mind, as do the people we know. That is the beautiful thing about Hanover - that so many people are interested in the life of the mind. It is extraordinary in a town this size."
Campion knows an evening of content must be orchestrated before it can take off on its own, and this is the role in which she shines.
"I think the chemistry of a gathering is very important. You have to have some listeners, not just performers. And I do think people ignite each other," Campion said. "If there is a sort of lighthearted approach to the evening, then it is important to not talk about Kant."
"Tom has always insisted that we have no more than eight to dinner, and I have come to agree with him. If you want to have general conversation, eight is the limit."
And Campion is very interested in the art and science of conversation, attentive to even the arrangement of chairs in a room.
"She forces people to interact by making the dining room table smaller than it should be. This way everyone is close and no one is allowed to have exclusive conversations with the dinner partner on their right or left," said Halley White '96, who helps Campion around the house and in her office at home.
"She is marvelous at drawing out the best of her guests. She has a special talent for engaging her guests and talking about things they're involved in and drawing in people of different backgrounds."
Peter Gilbert, special assistant to College President James Freedman, said, "The subject of the conversations are as diverse as current affairs and the art of dowsing."
Campion has always thought about what makes for a meaningful conversation, and often plans for her conversations.
"You do think ahead of time what you're going to talk about just like you do when you're going out on a date," she said. "I used to ask my mom before I would go out what I would talk about, and she'd say 'That's easy. You talk about what they're interested in.'"
While evenings at the Campions invariably involve highbrow discussion or even a poetry reading by English Professor Peter Saccio, sparkling cider bought by the case and impromptu party games lend an air of fun and humor to the gatherings.
"At almost every party, you play a game," College President James Freedman said. "In 1991 we all had to put down who we thought the next president would be, and the next year she assembled the same group of people and passed them back to us. She likes literary games, like asking us for ten great authors whose name begins with 'J'."
For Easter dinner last year, Campion bought a used book for each dinner guest and then asked them to guess why she selected that particular book. She said she likes to have a question prepared.
Freedman and Campion each praised the other's conversational skills.
"I think Jim and Sheba are really gifted conversationalists," Campion said. "It is remarkable because they have so many interests and are interested in what others have to say, and listening well is one of the most desirable and cultivated traits."
Freedman said, "Nardi is one of these people who is open to everything- open to life. She is interested in people- where they came from and where they are going. She runs a salon in which she brings together some of the most fascinating people I have ever met. She just has a special way with people, and she is very well informed herself."
Campion said knowing a lot of people comes from simply being around a long time. The Campions moved to Hanover in 1978 when her husband, Tom, came to the College as head of the parents program in the Development Office. They already knew many people associated with the College through their three sons, all Dartmouth alumni.
"We used to come up to Alumni College where Dartmouth professors would give classes for two weeks on a certain issue," Campion said. "I remember one was 'Men and Women: What's the Difference?' At the end, the conclusion was there isn't any difference, which is news to me."
Campion, who moved to the area from Amherst, Mass., attributed her love for Hanover-"below-zero weather and all"- to the cohesion in the community.
"Amherst is so overshadowed by UMass with its 23,000 students," she said. "There is no sense of community the way there is in Hanover. We went to Police Chief Schimke's funeral and the feeling of community in Rollins Chapel was very powerful."
Attending soccer games, concerts, Shakespeare classes and panel discussions, Campion takes advantage of all Dartmouth has to offer.
"One thing that really bothers me is how many wonderful people come to town, and students don't show up," she said. "Those kids are not getting their money's worth. For example, Jim Freedman's talk on Thurgood Marshall was brilliant and there were probably two students there."
Campion also meets people in a community women's group, at St. Thomas Church, through her granddaughters, Ashley '94 and Berit '96 and through her work as a journalist.
Jonathan Good '94 met Campion through St. Thomas Church and worked for her "shoveling snow, splitting wood and helping her clean her perpetually disorganized office."
"Nardi is so young at heart. She has a boundless intellectual curiosity and the ability to infect you with interest in her discoveries," Good said. "Many of these make a later appearance in her column in the Valley News, such as the chicken which plays tic-tac-toe or her trip to the Inauguration last winter."
Campion, who has written articles for magazines ranging from the New Yorker to Reader's Digest, said she has met a lot of people through her writing.
"Beyond being a social whirlwind, Mrs. Campion is a wonderful model for women," White said. "She doesn't let anything stop her. I don't mean to insinuate she is aggressive, far from it. She just has a tremendous amount of drive and determination which is why I think she is so well-suited for her occupation."
Campion planned to cross-country ski through Russia but then broke her wrist. "I probably would have stayed home and whined, but she took the trip anyway, skiing through the country with one good arm and one bad," White said.
A Wellesley graduate, Campion interviewed fellow Wellesleyan Hillary Clinton on two occasions, the last time being in December when she spoke to her in the White House for the Wellesley magazine. The guard at the White House expressed surprise that Campion was still working at her age.
In addition to the six books she has written, she has had 10 opinion pieces published in the New York Times and writes a column called "Everyday Matters" for the Valley News.
