Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994 TAG: 9406160011
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The 16-year-old was on his way to Myrtle Beach after finishing his sophomore year at Glenvar High School in Roanoke County. A few miles west of Bennettsville, S.C., he took over the wheel in a friend's car and pulled onto the highway.
His mother and father, who were accompanying Thomas and four of his friends, were in separate cars parked at a convenience store a few hundred feet ahead. His friend Scott Harrison - who was riding with Thomas' father - said he will always remember what happened next.
"We heard a squeal of tires and a crash," Harrison said. "I just got this feeling that it might be them. I turned around and saw their car. You don't want to believe it, but it's right there in front of you."
Jean Thomas, who was watching the car her son was driving, said she screamed, "Oh my God - it's Bryan!" She rushed to the mangled car. When the driver's side door was opened, her son slumped onto the road.
Thomas died with his parents beside him.
According to C.B. Thompson of the South Carolina Highway Patrol, Thomas failed to yield at the intersection of South Carolina 9 and U.S. 1 in Wallace. A car driven by a Bennettsville man had just entered a reduced-speed zone and plowed into the driver's side door of Thomas' car, pushing it 75 yards down the highway.
Thompson said Monday that no charges will be filed in connection with the crash. He also said alcohol was not a factor.
Riding with Thomas were Glenvar High School student Steve Harris and two students from Cave Spring High School - Sarah Burton and Elizabeth Abshire, the owner of the car. None was seriously injured.
Dale Stewart, a maintenance engineer for the South Carolina Department of Transportation, said the intersection where the wreck occurred is on the most heavily traveled stretch of road in Marlboro County.
"It's a pretty bad intersection right there," he said. "That's for sure."
Many in the Glenvar community attended a graveside service for Thomas on Tuesday afternoon at Sherwood Burial Park in Salem.
Harrison and Harris were pallbearers with several other close friends of Thomas'. They wore green shirts, shorts, ties and baseball caps.
"We wore the shirts because green and gold are Glenvar's colors," Harrison said. "We wore shorts because it was hot, and we wore the hats because that was one of Brian's favorite things. He loved to trade hats. He would have wanted us to do it this way."
Harrison wore a gold-and-purple James Madison University cap that Thomas had given him. A group of Thomas' friends placed another James Madison University hat on his casket. On it, they inscribed his football jersey number, 34, along with "BTMONEY" - the letters on the license plate of the car he loved, a white Honda CRX. A teammate placed Thomas' class ring on his hand, and Harrison placed a gold cross in his palm.
Glenvar football coach Brian Hooker was the first to speak at the service. He remembered Thomas, a fullback and linebacker, as an energetic person who once told him he missed a weightlifting session because a tire fell off his car.
"I loved his stories," Hooker said.
School administrators opened Glenvar's football stadium Monday night so friends could come and tell stories about Thomas and his stories. Fireworks later were set off, Jean Thomas said.
A scholarship fund has been established at Glenvar in Thomas' name.
sh: :wq!: not found STORY funeral 6.15 TOPIC a day to mo KEYWORDK AUTHOR:TODDJ06/15/94 1
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