Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 19, 1993 TAG: 9306190219
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Doris Wheat, 29, was diving with three friends at the quarry, off U.S. 60 just east of Lexington, when she apparently lost a flipper and began sinking, said Rockbridge County Sheriff R.W. Day.
At the same time, her diving partner, whom Day didn't identity, had problems with his scuba equipment that forced him to surface while Wheat was struggling.
He then summoned the other two divers to search for Wheat. Day said she was found 10 minutes later 132 feet below the water. She had stopped breathing.
The other divers got her to the surface and out of the water. They then tried to revive her and called an ambulance. She was pronounced dead at Stonewall Jackson Hospital in Lexington.
Day said the divers had permission to use the quarry, which is owned by Charles Barger. The quarry also is used by the Lexington Rescue Squad for scuba-diving practice, Day said.
Wheat had completed a 40-hour class on scuba diving and had trained in Florida. She and the other divers started diving Thursday evening shortly after 7, Day said.
They completed one dive of about 20 minutes, he said. Then they tried a second dive sometime after 8 p.m. Day said the other divers called for the ambulance shortly after 9 p.m.
Wheat was a 1982 graduate of Liberty High School in Bedford County. She earned a teaching degree from Lynchburg College and had been teaching at Lincoln Terrace for three years. She taught kindergarten at the school her first year and had been teaching first grade the last two years.
A funeral is planned for 2 p.m. Sunday at Updike Funeral Home in Bedford.
Keywords:
FATALITY TEACHER
by CNB