‘Spirit of Samantha’ Inspires New Peace Foundation

--Samantha Smith’s mother said she is establishing a foundation in memory of her daughter, who went on a peace mission to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov. In the first in-depth interview since her husband and 13-year-old daughter were killed in a plane crash last month, Jane Smith said in the inaugural edition of Picture Week magazine that the foundation would “foster international understanding in the spirit of Samantha.” She had not yet decided how to spend contributions to the Samantha Smith Foundation. Among the ideas to be considered, she said, are underwriting an international children’s exchange, scholarships for foreign-affairs students and an endowment for foreign college professors. “When bad things happen, other people may need to go to a mountain or something, but I’m not like that. I need to keep busy,” said Smith, who has agreed to be on the advisory committee of the U.S.-Soviet Bridges for Peace organization. She said a “terrific group of friends” has helped her through the ordeal. “When I stop and think what will never be,” Smith said, “then I get weepy, but I’m trying to look at the future and the positive aspect.”

--New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, believed to be a potential contender for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, said President Reagan is “probably the most effective” communicator ever to occupy the White House. “In the television, even including Kennedy, there has never been a communicator as effective,” Cuomo said in an interview in the October issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.

--Rhode Island Atty. Gen. Arlene Violet, a former nun and the first woman in the nation to be elected a state attorney general, is on the verge of signing a contract with Random House for publication of her autobiography. Violet, known for her strong law-and-order policies, is sometimes called “Attila the Nun.”

--When Texas A&M;’s Aggie Band played for the opening home football game in College Station, three women marched along for the first time. As a result of a lawsuit and intervention by the U.S. Justice Department, Jennifer Peeler of Ennis, who plays flute, Carol Rockwell of Corpus Christi, who plays clarinet, and Andrea Abat of Houston, who plays trombone, were included in the 285-member band. The women wore the same khaki uniforms as the men, but Abat had to pin up her long hair under her military cap. All the male members wear crew cuts. Texas A&M;, which has no music department, had had an all-male military band for 91 years.