inability to perform surgery due to his hand injury, Ed had begun drinking heavily again, but he became infatuated with Rita, and was able to become sober with her help. Rita also apparently had a secret romantic past with Ed's nemesis, Roger Thorpe. Pam Chandler left Springfield, in the summer of 1976, after her former boyfriend and the father of her daughter returned to her. Tim was left without another fall back to Rita for love and pressured her to marry him. But despite her past with Roger and Tim's pressure, Rita had one man on her mind, Ed! And Ed, getting closer to divorcing Holly, was definitely willing to pursue Rita. Ed and Rita became even closer when Rita's younger sister Eve arrived in Springfield with their elderly mother Viola, who'd just suffered a stroke. Eve for a while ended up being wooed by Tim Ryan, until Eve found out that he and Rita had earlier been involved and for a few months, and blamed Rita when Tim left her and left town. Ed recruited stroke specialist Dr. Emmett Scott (Jackie Marler's father), and the two were able to help Viola make a complete recovery, and she and Eve decided to remain in Springfield. Unfortunately for Rita, a newly reformed Holly started to realize her mistakes in letting Ed and their marriage get away from her. But the divorce decree, with Holly's signature, from Mike and Holly's lawyer was about to hit Ed's desk at Cedars and Holly made one more phone call attempt at getting Ed back. But Rita discovered the phone message left in his apartment, by Holly, for Ed and ended up throwing the tape out into the garbage with Ed never hearing the message (Barbara would suspect that Rita did this and would continue to hold a grudge against Rita for the rest of the time the two were on the show.) During this time, 1975–76, Hope came back to town all grown-up and a somewhat naive college student. While at college in nearby Bay City, Hope had developed a relationship with one of her professors, Alex McDaniels. Mike was livid when he found out that Professor McDaniels was married! Bert tried to tell her son not to get involved in her granddaughter's love-life (as she had done with his in the previous decade), but Mike refused to listen. Eventually Mike went to San Francisco