I actually had 2 different scenarios to deal with: 1) user enters a new name so there's nothing to look up, and 2) user selects from an existing name, ie a lookup. The resultant field in both cases is a unique record ID which is then used for all subsequent access (change, delete, view) to the form. It proved easier to simply split the procedures into two as the two different scenarios were being called from two different places anyway. I was then able to fiddle with the lookup processing in 2) to get what I needed.
Thanks,
Makr