MILESTONES

HONORED. VIVIAN MALONE JONES, 54, as the first recipient of the Lurleen B. Wallace Award of Courage, named for the late wife of former Alabama Governor George Wallace; in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1963, Governor Wallace stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama auditorium in a symbolic and unsuccessful attempt to prevent the young Malone and another black student from registering for classes.

FREED. YAO WENYUAN, about 65, believed to be the sole surviving member of China's infamous "Gang of Four"; after serving all of a 20-year sentence for inciting violence during the Cultural Revolution; in Shanghai.

RECOVERING. POPE JOHN PAUL II, 76; from an appendectomy; in Rome. Doctors said they found no sign of any serious ailment during the surgery.

UNDERGOING CHEMOTHERAPY. LANCE ARMSTRONG, 25, top American road- racing cyclist; for advanced testicular cancer; in Austin, Texas.

DIED. MARJORIE SHOSTAK, 51, anthropologist who wrote about the !Kung San tribe in Africa's Kalahari Desert; of breast cancer; in Atlanta. Shostak lived with the tribe and mastered its difficult clicking language.

DIED. TED BESSELL, 57, actor; of an aortic aneurysm; in Los Angeles. Bessell co-starred as Marlo Thomas' long-suffering boyfriend Donald in the 1960s TV comedy series That Girl.

DIED. WALTER KERR, 83, Pulitzer-prizewinning New York Times drama critic respected for his wit, integrity and far-ranging knowledge of the theater; in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

DIED. RICHARD PORTER, 83, electrical engineer who helped lead America into space; on a train traveling from Washington to New York City. Porter oversaw the first U.S. satellite launch in 1958, a project that had its seeds in a perilous 1945 trip he made to Germany to recruit pioneering rocket scientists including Wernher von Braun.