She has been a competitive sailor, a college senior class president, a New York advertising woman, head stylist for photo shoots, an advertising copy writer, recreational pilot of small planes, antiques dealer, professional member of ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) and CID (Certified Interior Designer), Junior Leaguer, Garden Club of America member and Friend of FILOLI, lifelong volunteer, active church member, world traveler, wife, mother and grandmother.  She was born Anne Elizabeth Stewart, but here at The Village we know this accomplished woman as Nancy Dana. Nancy was born in New Orleans, the middle child and only daughter of Norton Stewart, a commercial illustrator, and Beth, a writer.  During her childhood, the family lived in the guest cottage at Beaulieu, her grandparents’ historic home in Pass Christian, Mississippi, near New Orleans.  Beaulieu, high on the beach overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, was known during the Wilson administration as the Dixie White House, as the president and his family wintered there during negotiations with Mexico in 1913 – 1914, a time of border trouble.

“My grandmother hated the term Dixie White House,” said Nancy. “She called the house Beaulieu.”  Sadly, Beaulieu would be severely damaged by Hurricane Camille in 1969, and later bulldozed to the ground.

All three children sailed competitively at the Pass Christian Yacht Club.  Nancy’s older brother, Norton Jr., inherited his father’s talent as an artist, and also became a champion sailor.  He was lost at sea in World War II.  Younger brother David and his family live in Barrington, Rhode Island, were he runs his own business and is active in the New York Yacht Club.

After the war the family relocated to Pelham Manor, New York.  Nancy attended Holton-Arms Junior College, in Washington, D.C. and was senior class president.  An exciting event of this time for Nancy was attending the Mistick Krewe of Comus Ball at Mardi Gras in New Orleans where she was seated directly behind the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and watched as the duchess made two low curtsies to the King and Queen of Comus, royalty of the ball.

Commuting to New York, Nancy started her first professional job at CBS.  Not long afterward she suffered a second devastating loss when her fiancé, a mining engineer, died of polio while working in Chile.  As a result, she moved to the city, where “I worked hard and played hard.”  At the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency she wrote copy and arranged studio as well as location-photo shoots for clients.  She later became head stylist for Anton Bruehl Studios, leading advertising photographers, work that sparked her later career as an interior designer.

“They Called Me Magnolia”

Nancy changed course in the late 1950s, leaving New York to join her parents, who had moved to Connecticut.  She took a job at the Danbury School of Aeronautics, where she worked in the office and also – literally – took off, accepting flying lessons in lieu of salary, and becoming a recreational pilot of light aircraft.  Sometimes she took calls on the VHF radio from pilots flying into LaGuardia Airport, fielding requests such as “Would you call my wife and tell her I’ll be late?”  Her Southern accent inspired the pilots to give her a nickname:  Magnolia.

A major life change came at a party in New York City, where she met Bill Dana.  They soon married (a first brief marriage of Nancy’s having ended in divorce) and moved to Corning, New York, where he was a patent attorney with Corning Glass Works, and subsequently Legal Secretary and Vice President of Corning International.  Daughter Elizabeth and son William Jr. were born in Corning.  Nancy traveled abroad frequently with her husband; she also started an antiques business, wrote advertising copy for a local boutique and became an active church member.

In 1974, the Danas pulled up stakes and headed west when Bill accepted a position as secretary and general counsel at Signetics Corp., a Corning subsidiary in Silicon Valley.  They bought a house in Atherton, which they renovated extensively building a large addition, Nancy working closely with architects and contractors.  There they would spend the next 27 years, raising their children and involved in school, church and volunteer work.  Nancy became sole proprietor of Nancy Dana Interiors, Inc., an interior design and consulting business.  She studied for and became a member of ASID and CID.

Nancy remembers vividly the San Francisco earthquake of 1989, which was felt in Atherton.

“Water sloshed around in the pool until it was half empty,” she recalled.  “We lost some lamps and other items.”

With Bill’s retirement came the decision to move back East, near Elizabeth, who is now an attorney in Boston, her husband, also an attorney, and their two young children.  Bill Jr., a software engineer, stayed in San Francisco, where he lives with his physician wife and their three children.  Nancy and Bill bought a house on King Caesar Road, Duxbury, and soon, in their typical fashion, became active community members.

A brochure that happened to come in the mail changed Nancy’s life again, shortly after Bill, a cancer survivor, became ill with pneumonia.  Sandy O’Shea from The Village had sent out the mailing to local residents, and Nancy became interested in the new wing that was under construction.

In November 2005, Nancy, Bill and their beloved cat Holly moved to The Village.  Bill was by then very ill, and died the following April.  Nancy kept to herself for a long while after his death, but is once again active here and in Duxbury.

“If Bill had lived, he would have enjoyed it here as much as I do now,” she said.

A Sentimental Journey

Love of family and pride in her roots are very much a part of Nancy.  Ancestral portraits line the walls of her home; a relative was governor of Alabama during the Civil War, and Nancy and her daughter are both members of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America.  Understandably, there was great excitement in the family when news came that an exact replica of Beaulieu was going to be built.  A Boston couple named Sewell, both doctors and Louisiana natives, had purchased part of the original Beaulieu property and obtained plans of the house.  A reunion was planned and in 2010, thirty-six direct descendants of Nancy’s grandparents met in New Orleans.

“I was the oldest, and Elizabeth’s baby was the youngest,” said Nancy.

It was an emotional moment when the gathered clan went to the site to view Beaulieu’s reincarnation.  “We all loved it,” Nancy said.

Nancy keeps up her connections in Duxbury, where she is a member of the Snug Harbor Investment Club, the Altar Guild a St. John’s Episcopal Church, and volunteers at the Maritime School, the Rural and Historical Society, and the South Shore Musical Festival.  Here at The Village she serves on the Hospitality and Dining Committees, and contributes flower arrangements to the annual Art in Bloom event.  She enjoys the fitness center, the museum, garden and theater trips as well as socializing with friends.

Editor’s note: This is the first in an occasional series profiling some of the fascinating residents of The Village at Duxbury.