Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 22, 1990 TAG: 9007220229
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"All parents imagine how they would react," said Reed, the supervisor of a juvenile court services unit in Martinsville. "I can't explain it; it was totally indescribable."
The death of a son is never easy to put into words.
Friday night, Stephen Reed, 20, and his friend, Bradley Todd Cochran, were planning a quick trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C. They planned to drive to the place where Cochran's mother was staying and drive back home Sunday, they said.
Before they left, Stephen, 20, played a game for the church softball team.
About 9:45 p.m., the two men were cruising along the U.S. 220 bypass in Cochran's small Datsun, when a pickup truck going the wrong way rammed into them head on.
Cochran, a 21-year-old food-service worker at Wometco in Martinsville, died at Memorial Hospital of Martinsville-Henry County. Reed, a rising senior at Radford University, died a short time later.
Witnesses told state police that Michael Angelo Gibens, 21, the driver of the truck, was traveling south on the divided highway before inexplicably turning and heading north in the southbound lane.
Gibens, who was listed in very serious condition at Roanoke Memorial Hospital Saturday night, faces a reckless driving charge upon his recovery.
Jan Reed said he and his family also will take time to heal.
Stephen Reed's younger brother, David, had planned to join him at Radford this fall.
"They were excited about being together," Jan Reed said. "That's all over now."
But everywhere the Reed family looks, Jan Reed said, there will be reminders.
"We'll have a lot of sweet memories. We'll miss him."
by CNB