People: Jun. 8, 1962

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The citation called her "an inspirational example of the Judeo-Christian concept of the family unit as the heart of the divine plan for the good society," and energetic Ethel Skakel Kennedy, 33, mother of seven majoring in home economics, was delighted to receive her first honorary degree as Doctor of Humane Letters at the Benedictine St. Bernard College in Cullman, Ala. Done up in black gown and mortarboard, the Attorney General's wife then told 4,000 guests about the recent White House dinner for Nobel laureates. Everything was going along smoothly, recalled Ethel, until she overheard Chemist Linus Pauling saying: "Great minds are like movie actors or sports figures—they gather together like a clan. I recognize all but two people here." Said Ethel: "I spent the rest of the night looking for the other one."

To restore Williamsburg, Va., to the red brick and clapboard authenticity of the 18th century, the late John D. Rockefeller Jr. laid out $70 million, but even that was not enough to finish the job. Now the philanthropist's family is dipping into the bank to help one of his pet projects. In the next five years, said Winthrop Rockefeller, chairman of the board of Colonial Williamsburg, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund will ante up $2,000,000 to finance the restoration of such buildings as the John Custis house, the Blair-Prentis general store, and early America's first theater, right down to the 18th century stage and props.

Restless drifters between the gilded mansions of Palm Beach and the palm-fringed villas of the French Riviera for a quarter of a century, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor arranged to spend their silver wedding anniversary with what the New York Times termed "symbolic appropriateness''—at sea. After a farewell whirl of champagne-and-caviar parties tossed by Manhattan's ever-doting socialites, Edward, 67, and Wallis, 65, boarded the liner United States for a trip to Europe and a quiet, high-seas celebration in perfect counterpoint to the carnival atmosphere surrounding their 1937 wedding at the Château de Candé near Tours, France.

Celebrating the ninth anniversary of her coronation and her "official" birthday (the real one was April 21, when she turned 36), Queen Elizabeth issued her traditional birthday honors lists and slyly mixed into it a heady summer highball. Named a Commander of the British Empire was A.R.D. Gilbey, maker of Gilbey's gin; named a member of the Order of the British Empire was Commander Walter Edward Whitehead, bearded pitchman for Schweppes quinine water. Among 2,000 other honors: a knighthood for Guardian Cartoonist David Low—who now becomes Sir David—creator of that enduring symbol of bumbling bureaucracy, Colonel Blimp; an Order of the British Empire for New Zealand Runner Peter Snell, world record holder in the mile, half-mile, 1,000-yd. and 500-meter races; Commanders of the Order of the British Empire for Novelist Elspeth Huxley, Poet Stephen Spender, Actor Emlyn Williams.