Campbell was best friends with Blaine Cooper,even though Cooper was two years younger. Theywere the town intellectuals; teachers at WarsawHigh School say they are the only two students inrecent memory to attend college out of state.
"Both of us stood out in the town," saysCooper, now a sophomore at Boston University. "Wepretty much kept to ourselves. There were fewpeople who shared the same interests. We read alot and developed an interest in Monty Python."
Cooper says Campbell was always more serious."When I was in the fourth grade and he was insixth, he ditched the tennis shoes. For the mostpart after that, Brad always wore sacks and wingtips."
Warsaw has only one movie theater, and whileCampbell was growing up the closest McDonald's andnearest Interstate (I-70) were more than 40 milesaway. But Campbell says he never found town lifestifling. "I really appreciate having growing upin a place with such a strong sense of values andcommunity," he says "The downside to life in thesmall down, of course, is the gossip net-work."
Cooper says the town gossips didn't bother themmuch. The two friends spent many afternoons aloneat the Shawnee Bend golf course, playing thenine-hole layout. "At the beginning at least, wewere hack golfers, though Brad was on the highschool team. It was a good break from the rurallife."
JOAN CAMPBELL SAYS THE proudest she hasever been of Brad was when he was accepted atHarvard, though she was surprised at how liberalthe campus turned out to be. "I always hadassociated Harvard with [John F.] Kennedy ['40],whose values were basically traditional," shesays.
Campbell worshipped and served as an usher atHarvard's Memorial Church until the minister, Rev.Peter J. Gomes, announced he was gay in Novemberof his first-year. "I don't consider MemorialChurch a Church at all," he says. "I find it hardto believe a homosexual can be minister andPlummer professor of Christian morals."
On Campus, Campbell quickly became a forceamong Harvard conservatives. Sumner Anderson '92says he knew Campbell was something