Editor's note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave's On the Ground Calhoun County series.

The 50,000-plus paper napkins collected by Cathy Campbell landed the Calhoun County resident in the Guinness Book of World Records and earned her the title of “The Napkin Lady.”
 
Now 83, Campbell’s first acquisition happened when she attended a birthday party at the age of 5.
 
“It was a very plain napkin with the words 'Happy Birthday' and a cake on it. My mom asked me why I didn’t use it and I said it was too pretty to use.”
 
John GrapCathy Campbell holds a napkin holder she received from her friend Jim Dean.She still has that napkin which holds a special place in her heart because it was the first in a collection that continues to grow. The majority of her napkins were ones that she picked up along the way at events or establishments. She says she will use one and take another one home. 

She also received and continues to receive napkins from friends who are aware of her hobby and strangers who have learned about her and sent her napkins.
 
A collection of 300 napkins came to her from a woman in New York who was going into a nursing home.
 
“She googled napkin collectors and my name came up. She was 90 something so she had many, many napkins from things long ago and they were all wonderful,” Campbell says.
 
JOhn GrapBins containing Cathy Campbell's collection of napkinsA paper napkin expert by virtue of her collection, Campbell says many years ago Thanksgiving napkins used to have Pilgrims and Native Americans on them and some of these were among the New York woman’s collection. She says depictions such as these fell out of favor and are no longer used. And many people may not remember that “long ago only one-quarter of the napkin was decorated.”
 
A 1,000-piece collection that also contained vintage napkins came into her possession through a woman in California who said they belonged to her grandmother and she wanted Campbell to have them instead of throwing them away.
 
More recently, she received a UPS (United Parcel Service) box sent from Spain.
 
John GrapCathy Campbell displays some of her treasured napkins.“I opened the box and inside it was a very, very large three-ring binder notebook with individual sleeves holding napkins and descriptions of the napkins,” Campbell says. “It was from Virginia Cram, a former student of mine.”
 
Napkins from her own collection have been borrowed twice by the Kellogg Co. She says many years ago the company produced napkins for promotional use but did not save them. Company officials looked to her because she had a few in her collection.
 
Among the other one-of-a-kinds is a napkin depicting Barbie which was produced by Mattel, the doll’s creator. This is one of several napkins that she has framed.
 
John GrapA Barbie cocktail napkin“Mattel didn’t really know if an adult doll would market very well,” Campbell says. “In 1963 they put out a paper napkin with Barbie on it that had scalloped edges which was indicative of the 1950s and 1960s,” Campbell says.
 
Representatives with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History have met with her because they want to include her napkins with an Americana theme in their collection when she decides to part with them.
 
In addition to napkins received from family, friends, and strangers, officials with Beach Products/Designware in Kalamazoo which closed in 2010 began setting aside one napkin for her from each design they produced.
 
John GrapA napkin from the Dick & Jane eraThe notoriety of The Napkin Lady and her collection prompted Campbell to insure her napkins through Collectibles Insurance Services which has a story about her on its website.
 
The location of that collection is not being identified publicly at her request.
 
The rich and famous use napkins too
 
Behind each of the 50,000 napkins is a story, some that include chance meetings with celebrities including Taylor Swift and Tony Bennett and sports legends like Muhammad Ali and Mickey Mantle.
 
During a 40-year career as an educator with several school districts in the area, Campbell and her late husband, Ray, also an educator, took people on Community Education trips to larger cities such as Chicago and New York.
 
John GrapTaylor Swift autographed this napkin for Cathy.On one of these trips to New York, she accompanied a group of 40 people to a taping of Good Morning America where they saw Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts perform. This was in 2008 when Swift was in the beginning stages of moving away from being a country music performer.
 
“Rascal Flatts performers signed a napkin for me and then Taylor Swift came over and spoke to us all. She said, ‘Hi Cathy, what kind of fun things have you been doing in New York?’ She was 18 years old and 6 feet tall and she signed a napkin that said ‘I (heart symbol) Cathy.”
 
During another trip to New York, she and her husband went to a restaurant owned by Mickey Mantle in Times Square. As Campbell was heading to the restroom in the back of the restaurant she says, “I saw Mickey Mantle sitting in a booth and he asked if Ray and I would like to join him for lunch.”
 
John GrapOne of the holiday napkins in Cathy Campbell's collectionWhen she went back to tell her husband, he thought she was joking. He realized she was not and they spent the next couple of hours with the baseball legend. Campbell has a photo of Mantle with his arm around her husband and she has a napkin with his autograph on it which prompted Mantle to say, “Seriously Ray, your wife wants me to sign a napkin and not a baseball card.”
 
Another New York moment experienced by one of the couple’s two adult sons resulted in a napkin autographed by the legendary singer Tony Bennett.
 
John GrapA napkin autographed by Tony Bennett“Our son was in New York City for a training for Starr Commonwealth and he and a couple of other guys were eating breakfast when a guy came over and asked if he could join them. They said yes and he said ‘Hi, I’m Tony Bennett.’ My son asked him what he did for a living and he said, ‘I sing and I’m singing at Radio City Music Hall tonight and if you three want to come, I’d love to have you.’
 
Her son didn’t know who Bennett was and called her to ask about him. Once he knew, he asked Bennett to sign a napkin for his mom explaining about her napkin collection.
 
John GrapSome cocktail napkins from Win Schuler'sThe stories about her collection of autographed napkins is “unending”, she says. Henry Winkler, Ted Danson, James Earl Jones, Billy Ray Cyrus, and the list goes on.
 
Closer to home, she snagged Ali’s autograph following his appearance at a Starr Commonwealth event.
 
“The president of Starr Commonwealth asked if my husband and I would like to join him and his wife for dinner with Muhammad Ali,” Campbell says.
 
For the most part, she says her interactions with celebrities have been positive. Oprah Winfrey is the exception.
 
John GrapEntertainer Mark Russell autographed this napkin.“When Oprah used to do her shows from Chicago I had a teacher friend whose daughter was going to be on her show to talk about her dramatic weight loss. This was 10 years ago. I said to this teacher from Battle Creek, please get me an autographed napkin. After the show, Oprah invited the parents to come up on stage and the teacher asked if Oprah would give her an autograph. Her team said, ‘Oprah does not give autographs.’ My teacher friend followed her and finally, Oprah said, ‘Let me sign the napkin.' That would be the most reluctant one.”
 
Every napkin is important
 
As much as she cherishes the napkins signed by the rich and famous, Campbell values those that have been given to her by members of a local Rotary Club she belongs to, her church family, and truckers, just as much.
 
“John GrapA napkin signed by children's book writer and illustrator Patricia PolaccoI quite often go to McDonald’s in the morning and I love to meet the truckers because they have so much information to share,” she says.
 
The male members of her Rotary Club have given her napkins from PGA tournaments and Superbowls.
 
“Anybody who knows I collect them still collects them for me,” she says. “I have a lot of napkins from airlines no longer in business and politicians and when I go to church people will hand me a napkin.”
 
Although she doesn’t hold the number one spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for napkin collecting – that title belongs to Antonia Kozakaza who lives in Eastern Slovakia and has a collection of more than 80,000 napkins — Campbell says she is proud of her collection and the people she has met along the way.
 
“It has been a joy because I’m preserving everybody’s memories and so many people continue to collect napkins for me,” she says.