One story, which involved Bert's battle with uterine cancer gave many female viewers the incentive to see their gynecologists.
The Bauers The Fletchers and Benedicts and Scotts The Norrises Other characters Later in the decade, in 1966–1967, The Guiding Light was also the first show to regularly feature African American characters, Dr. Jim Frazier and his wife nurse Martha Frazier (played first by Billy Dee Williams and Cicely Tyson and then by James Earl Jones and Ruby Dee).
Meta Roberts marries Bruce Banning at the beginning of the decade, while the show focuses on Bill and Bert's children, Mike and Ed, in the mid-1960s.
Dr. Paul Fletcher runs a free clinic in a dilapidated area of Los Angeles near Selby Flats.
After returning from Venezuela, Mike gets a job as a legal assistant for attorney George Hayes while finishing law school.
Due to heavy network censorship at the time, Bert's storyline plays out without using the words "uterine" or "pap smear".
Mike falls for Jane Fletcher, Paul's sister, and her roommate Julie Conrad, who is also George's secretary.
Julie's difficult pregnancy and delivery lead to mental instability, and Bert acts as a surrogate mother to Mike's daughter Hope.
Robin divorces Alex Bowden, moves away, and becomes involved with Dr. Paul Fletcher, causing problems with Jane.
The show's writers retroactively changed the name and location of the series from Selby Flats to Springfield, US, without a designated state, but apparently in the Midwest.
Cedars Hospital remained a central location in Springfield, first introduced via Bill Bauer opening a new office of a New York City advertising agency in the summer of 1965.
Maggie Scott, his secretary at the agency, was a widow raising her teenage daughter Peggy and romantically involved with young Jason Weber.
Although Peggy mentioned enjoying working at Dr. Paul Fletcher's clinic in the summer of 1965, which remained in Selby Flats, and Papa Bauer claimed to have lived in Springfield his entire life, despite earlier episodes indicating otherwise.
Mike Bauer leaves the show after graduating law school and passing The Bar in spring 1965, due to his strained marriage with Julie caused by Bert's overbearing presence.
After a confrontation with Lee, Mike leaves Bay City in February 1967 with Hope and they are listed as working, going to school and living in Philadelphia during the year 1967–1968.
Ed Bauer starts his residency at Cedars Hospital in Springfield, competing with two other interns, Joe Werner and Jim Frazier, to become the new protégé of Dr. Stephen "Steve" Jackson, the Chief of Surgery.
The romantic troubles of two young couples, Leslie Jackson and Peggy Bauer with their respective partners, become the focus of the show's storyline in 1966–1967.
Peggy works as a part-time candy striper at Cedars and confronts Ben when she overhears him arguing with Maggie.
Johnny moves out and briefly stays with his Uncle George and Aunt Jane, where he gets a job as an orderly at Cedars.
Leslie's feeling of estrangement from Steve due to her mother's absence and his reluctance to discuss her leads her to be open to romance with Ed, despite his later struggles with alcoholism.
Leslie also has another suitor, Dr. Joe Werner, who initially sees Sara McIntyre, a psychologist who arrives in Springfield and Cedars in January 1967, as a usurper in medicine due to her gender.
By October 1967, Robin throws herself into oncoming traffic, mirroring a plot device used to kill off Kathy nearly a decade earlier.
Papa moves back in with them, but Ed starts drinking heavily and becomes an alcoholic after discovering the affair between his father and Maggie Scott.
After Charlotte's attempt to scam her as her "niece" "Tracey," Sara's life is not as easy as she helps her friends Bert and Peggy through their emotional turmoil.
Lee Gantry is a malaria patient at Cedars hospital, and Sara finds him attractive, charming, and erudite.
However, Lee has a habit of pursuing lonely women, including Sara, and he was responsible for the death of his wealthy English wife, Alice Rawlings.
Sara becomes anxious and buys a gun, prompting Joe Werner to seek help from Springfield police Lieutenant Pete Stassen, who dismisses his concerns.
In April 1969, Ed is involved in a traffic accident that causes Margie Wexler, one of Sara's pregnant patients, to have a miscarriage and lose her and her husband's child.
In September 1969, Ed resurfaces in Clayton, where he's working at Hastings Electrical Supply and gets involved with the company's secretary, Janet Mason.
Janet's father, Grove Mason, initially disapproves of the relationship, but after Ed saves many lives in a work accident, he changes his mind.