SEEKING DIVORCE. Herbert Armstrong, 89, autocratic founder of the Worldwide Church of God (membership: 68,000 tithing believers); and Ramona Armstrong, 44, his second wife; after five years; in Tucson, Ariz. They were married one year after Armstrong changed church laws against divorce and remarriage.

DIED. Celia Johnson, 73, refined British actress, best remembered for her role as the respectable suburban matron in love with Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter (1946); of a stroke; in Nettlebed, Oxfordshire. A veteran of the English stage since 1928, Johnson endeared herself to U.S. audiences through such films, besides Brief Encounter, as In Which We Serve (1942), This Happy Breed (1947) and Captain's Paradise (1953), in which she embodied the quintessential Englishwoman, mature and intelligent. Last year she was made a Dame of the British Empire.

DIED. Don Wilson, 81, orotund announcer and foil for Jack Benny on radio and TV for more than 30 years; of a blood clot to the brain; in Palm Springs, Calif. In his most familiar routine, Wilson protested, "But, Jack," in mock dismay at not being able to get the commercial started.

DIED. W.R. Burnett, 82, writer of 34 taut novels (Little Caesar, The Asphalt Jungle, The Dark Command), many of which he then honed into classic screenplays; in Santa Monica, Calif. A taste of Chicago-during the '20s gave Burnett a gritty sensibility that marked his work over half a century and provided memorable roles to such tough-guy stars as Humphrey Bogart (High Sierra) and Alan Ladd (This Gun for Hire). Not long ago, he observed of life: "You're going to have trouble and you die--that much you know. And there's not much else you do know."

DIED. Frank ("Three Fingers") Coppola, 82, multimillionaire Mafia capo who was linked to murder, prostitution, gambling and drugs; of a stroke; in Aprilia, near Rome. Once a partner of "Lucky" Luciano in Detroit, the Sicilian-born Mafioso was deported as an illegal alien in 1948. In Italy he became a don of international drug trafficking. Coppola fought his deportation from the U.S., insisting that he was actually a "nice guy." U.S. Senator John McClellan disagreed, however, saying: "Even though he only has three fingers, they are involved in everything."

DIED. W. Cameron Townsend, 85, pioneering Protestant missionary who brought the Bible to primitive groups by devising a written form of their language and then teaching them to read it; of leukemia complications; in Lancaster, S.C. A college dropout, Townsend found his calling in Guatemala in 1917 when he tried to sell Bibles written in Spanish to Indians who spoke only Cakchiquel. He learned the language, then during the next twelve years, with no formal linguistic training, developed an alphabet that he used to write a Cakchiquel translation of the New Testament. In 1935 he co-founded the nonprofit, nonsectarian Wycliffe Bible Translators Inc., which has repeated the process for 90 previously illiterate tribes.

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