Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 25

COURIER-POST MONDAY, JUNE 13, 1383 9C LPp)D JERSEY JOTTER Paraplegic walks for diploma 1 fellow graduates and the team who put her back on her feet. "The last time she walked in public was in high school, and she wanted to walk in her college graduation," said Dr. Jerrold Petrofsky. He is executive director of Wright State's National Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and developer of the computer system that helped Davis walk. Davis, 23, was helped from her wheelchair by Petrofsky and co-worker Dr.

Chandler Phillips. They held her arms to help her balance as her legs moved to the commands of the computer carried by Petrofsky Davis, of St. Marys, Ohio, was a sprinter in high school and planned to run track in college. But on the night of her high school graduation a one-car traffic accident she was a passenger damaged her spine, ending communication between her brain and her legs. Last November, she became the first paraplegic in Petrofsky's research project to walk with the aid of computer-controlled electrical stimulation of muscles.

"One small step for mankind," she said that day, evoking the memory of astronaut Neil Armstrong's description of his first step on the moon a small step for man, a giant leap for mankind. Associated Press DAYTON, Ohio Five years after an accident left her paralyzed, paraplegic Nan Davis rose from her wheelchair and walked 10 feet to receive her college diploma -with a book-size computer telling her numbed legs what to do. "This is a special day for all of us," she said Saturday when she reached the podium at the University of Dayton Arena to receive her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Wright State University. "Thank you all, and congratulations," she told her 1,300 1 Z. 5 Mil.

I. Miin1 i. I 1 I a i i I tiki i Mi If I mm mm mri nniimi i 'Mi i Associated Press The Beach Boys perform at RFK Stadium in Washington yesterday for House reception for the Special Olympics, where participants like Cathy soccer and rock fans (above). The group later entertained at a White Sager of Virginia (below) were honored by President and Mrs. Reagan.

Some PEOPLE you may know Cherry Hill High School senior Beth Dunof is headed for regional competition in the annual oratorical contest sponsored by the Elks in Atlantic City later this month. She recently won honors, including a $4,000 scholarship and a citizenship trophy at the Miss National Teenager Pageant in Cherry Hill For the third time this year, the fifth and sixth grade choir from the Charles W. Lewis Middle School in Gloucester Township, under the direction of Ronald Batdorf, entertained residents of the Greenbriar Nursing Home in Dept-ford Builder Robert K. Scarborough will be honored Wednesday at the Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner of the Camden County Council, Boy Scouts of America, at Tavistock Country Club. Willingboro High School's Club, a service organization, donated $500 to the American Heart Association.

Scholarly PEOPLE Mark L. Lawrence of Pitman is on the dean's list at Waynesburg (Pa.) College. The 1982 Pitman High School grad also has been named news editor of the college's weekly newspaper, The Yellow Jacket Beth Portocolis of Camden's Recreation Department graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. from Trenton State College Delran High School senior Raphael Bostic is the recipient of a 1 ,000 scholarship from the National Honor Society. He is editor of the yearbook and president of the band Sharon Marie Verdinell, a West Deptford High School senior, also won the National Honor Society scholarship.

She is editor of the yearbook and winner of a National Merit Scholarship Award The Philadelphia Writers' Conference has awarded scholarships to Freda Wolf of Cherry Hill, Virginia Fleming of Pitman and Dina A. Rabino witz of Voorhees Valerie Solze, a junior at Pauls- boro High School, was presented the Achiever of the Year Award in Gloucester County by Junior Achievement of South Jersey. More schorlarfy PEOPLE Edgar Lawrence of Camden, a senior at Camden County Vocational Technical Schools, received a full scholarship to the Lyons Technical Institute in the New Jersey Cooperative Industrial Education Competition. Joseph Pat-ton of Pennsauken placed second in the floriculture competition Boston's Berklee College of Music has awarded a $500 scholarship to percussionist Hank Fey of Clementon for his performance in the Overbrook High School jazz festival Burlington County College students Eileen Clancy of Moorestown and Linda Duncan of Mcdford have won scholarships from the Burlington County Soroptomist Federation of the Americas Frank Locantore of Collings Lake, a pre-law major at Fairleigh Dickinson University, has been inducted into the Leadership Honor Society. His father, Frank Locantore, is a veteran of the Major Crimes Unit in the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

Some duly elected PEOPLE Dr. Jerome B. Cohen, a general practitioner from Willingboro, is the new vice president of the New Jersey Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Cohen is president of the Burlington County chapter The South Jersey Chapter of the National Association of Black Social Workers has new officers.

They include: Patricia Reid-Bookhart of Willingboro as president; Jackie McKinny of Atlantic City and D. Anita Atchinson of Chesilhurst as vice presidents; Hattie Marshall of Atlantic City as secretary and Evelyn L. Morgan of Deptford as treasurer Hamilton Police Chief Ronald W. Martin has been elected president of the Atlantic County Association of Chiefs of Police Lee V. Hedlund, manager of electronic recording equipment engineering for RCA, has been elected a fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers Dr.

G. Stephens Nicoll of Cherry Hill has been elected to a one-year term as president of Underwood Memorial Hospital's medicaldental staff. Dr. Joseph Burns of West Deptford was named vice president and Dr. Howard S.

Coop of Woodbury is Beach Boys perform at White House party for Special Olympics learned they were playing at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium after a Team America soccer game. The group drew more than 50,000 fans for the 55-minute performance. Earlier in the day, Reagan told Special Olympians who were invited to the White House for a demonstration of their athletic talents that their skill and courage can serve as an inspiration to everyone. Flanked by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics for retarded youngsters, Reagan told 800 guests on the South Lawn that the spirit of Special Olympics includes "skill, courage, sharing and joy qualities every one of us could learn from these remarkable men and women." During the festivities, Reagan and the first lady watched demonstrations of relay racing, soccer juggling and acrobatics on the lawn.

Then the guests sat down for a picnic lunch under a huge white tent. Shriver, sister of the late President Kennedy, said the Special Olympics has grown from "a single track meet in Chicago" in 1 968 to 20,000 separate sports events for a million athletes from every state and 50 foreign countries in Baton Rouge, from July 12-18. "Twenty years ago, my brother stood on this lawn as you stand here today," Shriver said. "He was burdened by all the problems which beset the world just as you are burdened now. "Vet when he assessed his country and its role as a world leader, he concluded: 'We as a nation will be judged by our caring for our most vulnerable Associated Press WASHINGTON Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love paid first lady Nancy Reagan what may be his highest compliment.

"She's a 'California Love said in dedicating the rork 'n roll group's hit song to Mrs. Reagan during a performance at the White House yesterday. For president and performers alike, it was an upbeat end to what began as an embarrassing faux pas two months ago, when Interior Secretary James G. Watt banned the Beach Boys from giving a Fourth of July concert in the nation's capital. Watt had decided that rock groups attracted the "wrong element" and instead invited Las Vegas casino singer Way ne Newton to entertain at the Independence Day concert on the national Mall.

The secretary later learned, however, that the Beach Boys' fans included the president, his wife and a number of other top Reagan administration officials, and apologized to the rock group. "If you did not believeour whole family has been fansof yours for a long time, just look at Nancy," said the president, pointing to a beaming first lady standing arm-in-arm on stage with Love. Watt was invited to the White House concert, which followed a reception in honor of the Special Olympics, but the Interior Department said he was in Florida to deliver a speech. The first lady invited them to entertain at the picnic lunch and reception when she ft J- fc- A.jtit. Associated Press PEOPLE IN THE NEWS 1 years ago when he was so drunk he couldn't remember any song lyrics.

But all that was behind him yesterday when the 62-year-old actor and singer starred at the third annual homecoming celebration for the North Greenville Alcoholism Treatment Program. About 600 people at Furman University's McAlister Auditorium gave the singer standing ovations. MacRae, honorary chairman of the National Council on Alcoholism, tried to make amends for his disastrous 1978 concert He performed in January at a reduced price. "I think I'll always have a special place in my heart for Greenville because it was there that I finally came to my senses when I hit rock bottom," he said earlier. The incident put him on the road to recovery, McRae said, because three days later he entered an alcoholism treatment center.

4 4 Young judge on bench Defendants who approach the bench of newly appointed U.S. District Judge Julia Gibbons will find themselves facing the youngest such judge in the country. Gibbons, 32, graduated from Van-derbilt University and from the University of Virginia School of Law. She is currently a state Circuit Court judge in Memphis, and was recommended for the federal bench by Sen. Howard Baker, R-Tenn.

She said she isn't offended by questions about her age that it's reasonable to wonder if a person aged 32 has the maturity to be a federal judge -but she's convinced she has the patience, sense of fairness, knowledge of law and desire to work hard. A homecoming Entertainer Gordon MacRae says he hit "rock bottom" during an appearance in Greenville, S.C., five "sort of my favorite" among the current actors. Bette Davis is "a master of craft." John Wayne was "the top of the pile." Fonda was "the closest friend I ever had and I think the most complete, versatile, near-perfect actor." At the end of the interview, Reagan got something most interviewers do not: a ride home from the interviewee. "My sister will be apoplectic with envy." he wrote, not specifying which of his two sisters. Her date is a prince Prince Edward dated the 16-year-old daughter of a garbage collector during the two terms he spent teaching school in New Zealand, the News of the World reports.

"I'm more than a little upset he's gone," April Phillips told a reporter of the London newspaper yesterday. "We've been out several times and I'm very fond of him. I'm not going into more details." Edward is the youngest of Queen Elizabeth IPs four children. He is touring the South Pacific and returns briefly to New Zealand Thursday. He took a temporary teaching post at a coed prep school, Wanganui Collegiate School on New Zealand's north island, before going to Cambridge University later this year.

The report said Edward, 19, met Phillips in a school play. Phillips said the prince sent her expensive flowers after their first performance. The report quoted another unidentified pupil as say ing: "April swore us to secrecy but everyone knows of the relationship. April told us Edward insisted he didn't want another Andy and Koo Stark situation," a reference to his brother's friendship with an American soft-porn actress. Young Reagan on Stewart In his first feature magazine article since switching from ballet to writing, President Reagan's son Ron takes on a familiar subject actor Jimmy Stewart.

"Since my early childhood, Stewart has inhabited the periphery of my world, never exactly Uncle Jimmy, but one of those old family friends I saw occasionally during the holidays and whose name crops up now and again at the dinner table," young Reagan writes in a new magazine, The Movies, out June 20. In the interview, Stewart talked about Henry Fonda, with whom he constructed rubber-band airplanes, and director Frank Capra, who got Stewart to make "It's a Wonderful Life" because he was the first to approach the actor after he returned home from World War II. Stewart said Dustin Hoffman is jr GORDON MacRAE recovered alcoholic.