Milestones: Dec. 15, 1967

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Married. Lynda Bird Johnson, 23, and Marine Captain Charles Rohb, 28 (see THE NATION).

Died. Air Force Major Robert H. Lawrence Jr., 31, the first and only Negro named to the LI.S. astronaut team, chosen in June for the manned orbiting laboratory program; on a routine proficiency flight, when his F-104 jet went out of control and slammed into the runway at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., thus making him the ninth fatality among those assigned to the manned spaceflight effort since it began in 1959.

Died. Harry Wismer, 54, veteran sports announcer; of a skull fracture; in Manhattan. What listener could ever forget when Harry roared into the mike: "He's at the 40, the 45, the 50, the 55 . . ." The bloopers notwithstanding, he was one of the best in the business from 1935 to 1952, when he broadcast for the Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins and New York Giants, and piled up enough of a fortune by 1959 to buy his own team, the A.F.L.'s New York Titans. The team went nowhere and the fans went elsewhere, forcing Wismer to sell out for $1,000,000 in 1963 to Sonny Werblin, who is now making it big with his New York Jets.

Died. Cora Baird, 55, puppeteer; of cancer; in Manhattan. With her husband Bil, she created a magic world of dancing figures and impish characters, and for 30 years their Baird puppets, starring Hedda Louella McBrood and Edward R. Bow-Wow, entertained countless children in films, on TV and in shows from India to the White House.

Died. Robert Helberg, 61, Boeing aircraft scientist, builder of the immensely successful Lunar Orbiter spacecraft; of a heart attack; in Seattle. As the prime contractor's man in charge of the venture since inception in 1963, Helberg gets much credit for the five camera-bearing vehicles that whizzed around the moon and snapped some of the most dramatic pictures in all science.

Died. Benton Spruance, 63, U.S. lithographer; of a heart attack; in Germantown, Pa. Etching vibrant colors into stone, he treated stories ranging from the Minotaur legend to the life of St. Francis, and, as museums across the country (Washington's National Gallery, Manhattan's Whitney) collected his prints, earned major recognition, most recently for The Passion of Ahab, 30 prints illustrating Moby Dick.

Died. Oscar Diego Gestido, 66, President of Uruguay since last March; of a heart attack; in Montevideo. A former air force general, Gestido was elected to succeed a free-spending nine-man council and save Uruguay from bankruptcy. It seemed a futile hope until October, when soaring inflation and rumors of a coup spurred him to impose a series of stiff reforms, which were greeted by such howls of indignation that he was forced to declare martial law.

Died. William Littlewood, 69, aircraft engineer and longtime (1937-1963) vice president of American Airlines; of a heart attack; in St. Michaels, Md. Mass air transport was still just a dream in the early 1930s, when Littlewood went to Douglas Aircraft with detailed specifications for the plane that American wanted: twin engines, 200 m.p.h. for 1,425 miles, 21 passengers in reclining armchairs. The result was the DC-3, which became the sturdy backbone of worldwide air travel for 20 years.