Milestones, May 12, 1975

Divorced. By Maggie Smith, 40, willowy English Oscar winner (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) and this Broadway season’s blase, acid-tongued divorcee in Noel Coward’s drawing-room classic Private Lives: Actor Robert Stephens, 43; on grounds of Stephens’ adultery; after eight years of marriage, two children; in London.

Died. John B. McKay, 52, steel-nerved NASA test pilot, whose flights on the experimental X-15 rocket plane in the early 1960s helped lay the groundwork for later Mercury and Apollo space programs; of complications of injuries suffered in 1962, when his X-15 crash-landed so severely that he lost an inch of height as his spine compressed on impact; in Lancaster, Calif.

Died. Queen Mother Sisowath Kossamak of Cambodia, 73, mother of Prince Norodom Sihanouk; of apparent heart disease; in Peking. The statuesque, domineering Kossamak was her loyal son’s chief adviser, beginning in 1941, when the 19-year-old prince ascended the throne. For a decade after the death of her husband King Norodom Suramarit in 1960, Kossamak reigned as Cambodia’s “Supreme Guardian” while her son acted as chief of state. Following the 1970 coup that ousted Sihanouk and abolished the monarchy, Kossamak, her health failing, was held under virtual house arrest for three years before being allowed to join Sihanouk in exile in Peking. Her deepening illness clouded Sihanouk’s recent victory celebrations and delayed the return home of the newly appointed lifetime head of the Khmer state.

Died. Richard H. Rich, 73, former president of one of the South’s largest department-store chains; following heart surgery; in Houston. Grandson of the founder of Rich’s department store in Atlanta, Rich became its president in 1949, expanded to 21 Rich and Richway Stores in three states. He was responsible for such innovations as cash refunds on virtually any goods returned to Rich’s—even years after its purchase.

Died. Sir Godfrey Driver, 82, Oxford University biblical scholar who headed the New English Bible’s team of Old Testament translators for more than two decades; in Oxford. One of the most significant revisions of Holy Writ in this century, the N.E.B. is marked by lucid and often majestic prose that eliminates archaisms such as “thee” and “thou” unless characters are addressing the Deity. One exception: in the prologue to Job, Satan casually greets God with the familiar “you.” Explained Translator Driver: “Satan is the Devil, and is allowed to be bumptious.”