Prognosis Good for Doctor Strengthened by Obstacles

--At 16, Alison K. Walker had an alcoholic husband, two young children and an eighth-grade education. Now, at 39, she’s a single mother of three, a grandmother of five and, as of today, a doctor of medicine. A former welfare recipient, she depended on the emotional support of her family, especially her mother, and $125,000 in student loans to get through medical school. She now is thinking over an offer to join the office of a family practitioner in Philadelphia. “I don’t feel like a doctor. It’s sort of anti-climactic,” Walker said. “But considering where I came from, it was something I had to do.” Her graduation from Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia will complete a journey from the impoverished Pittsburgh neighborhood where she was raised. “A lot of people, when things happen to them, they give up,” she said. “When I see an obstacle, I go around or over or underneath. The strength has to be there and it grows stronger with each new obstacle. I know what it’s like to be hungry and not to have a place to live. But I also know the American dream. Look at me. Here I am,” she said.

--A Minneapolis judge dismissed charges against a 71-year-old man accused of wooing votes during a losing City Council bid by serving senior citizens a total of $31 worth of Twinkies and Kool-Aid. “If you run again, don’t give away anything,” Judge Harold Odland warned George L. Belair. County Atty. Tom Johnson had said earlier that he would seek dismissal of the case because he “did not want to abandon common sense, compassion and perspective.” Belair was indicted by a grand jury last week on charges of violating the state’s Fair Campaign Practices Act. He lost by more than a 2-1 margin to incumbent Walter Dziedzic, who filed the complaint.

--Comedienne Joan Rivers has been singled out for a special award by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, a Harvard University club that named her Woman of the Year in 1984. Rivers received an “Instant Pudding Award” while at the Harvard Co-op department store in Cambridge, Mass., during a book-signing appearance. Peter Ocko, a producer for the club, said the award was “Hasty Pudding’s way of saying ‘Welcome back to Cambridge, Joan,’ ” and was “invented just for this occasion.” Rivers got the 1984 award for “a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment.”