
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 31, 1994                   TAG: 9408020046
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

SLAIN DOCTOR HAD FAMILY TIES TO VA.

The doctor who was killed outside a Florida abortion clinic on Friday grew up in Albemarle County and graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Dr. John Bayard Britton, 69, was one of two men killed at the abortion clinic. The other was James Herman Barrett, 74.

``He was my best friend,'' a grieving Richard Britton, Dr. Britton's brother, said from his Charlottesville home Friday. ``I was just talking to him on the phone yesterday.

``He always worked for poor people. He didn't run a fancy practice. He worked very hard at it and you could call him up at any time of the night and he'd come out and help you.''

Richard Britton, 61, said he occasionally suggested to his brother that he leave the Pensacola, Fla. office.

``He'd been harassed, and he had to wear a bulletproof vest and he went into the clinic in unmarked cars,'' Britton said. ``But he said, `If I got out, somebody else will have to take my place.'''

by CNB