was dealing with Lee Gantry and Miss Mildred Foss. Ed didn't help matters any, by originally leaving the scene of the accident and originally resisting arrest by Springfield police Lt. Wally Campbell and Springfield police Sgt. DeMarco. Mike and Bill would post bail for Ed, but then Mike and Bill got more of a surprise when Ed would end up skipping town telling himself he couldn't face any of his family or his wife any longer. In July 1969, Bill took a plane trip for work to Alaska, and the plane crashed. Bill was then presumed dead. Sara again tried to console emotionally her friend, Bert, who was also dealing with the missing Ed. Mike and Leslie's romantic relationship went into a state of limbo as no one had any clue where Ed had gone, too. Hope, though, was hoping that Leslie would soon be her new stepmother because she really liked Leslie. During this time, Mike Bauer started to hang around Charlotte and in waiting for Leslie to reconcile how she felt about Ed, developed romantic feelings towards Charlotte. Although Charlotte was still considered by many in town the town pariah, Mike was much more lenient towards her, for Charlotte had been the one who would turn over evidence to Mike Bauer that would exonerate Peggy, by seducing Flip Malone. Charlotte, though, was still not over her feelings for Dr. Joe Werner, and Joe over his for Sara. This and Ed being missing, left an impasse over relationships for Mike, Leslie, Charlotte and Joe heading into the end of 1969 and the beginning of 1970. To field out how she felt about Joe, Charlotte was able to get a job as vice administrator of Cedars, which made more than a few people very unhappy. Before the end of 1969, Mike proposed marriage to Charlotte, but Hope was still hoping for Leslie to be her new stepmother. Hope told Bert that Charlotte would be bad news for her father, and Bert agreed with her granddaughter about the woman. Also in 1969, the rich businessman Stanley Norris was introduced. Stanley was divorced from his first wife, cookbook writer Barbara. Barbara was left alone to raise their three children, Kenneth ("Ken"), Andrew ("Andy") (who was listed as fighting in the Vietnam War), and Holly. Stanley would soon divorce his second wife, Katherine "Kit" Vestid, a Cedars volunteer, when she found out that