ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603290090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
A 14-year-old Lord Botetourt High School freshman collapsed in class Thursday morning and died.
Justin Hunter Wilburn of Cloverdale was in a wood shop class shortly after 10:30 when he dropped to the floor. The official cause of death was not known, though some students said he had a heart condition.
Fincastle Rescue Squad arrived at 10:59 and took him to Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy will be performed today.
Botetourt County Sheriff Reed Kelly said the emergency call was received at 10:38 a.m. and the closest squad, Troutville Rescue, was dispatched, but its only available crew was at a hospital with another patient.
After waiting four minutes, as is the county's policy when a squad doesn't confirm it's responding, dispatchers paged the Fincastle squad and it responded immediately, Reed said.
A squad member who drove directly to the school started cardiopulmonary resuscitation at 10:47 or 10:48, he said. Kelly said the county's squads are short-staffed during the day, and the county has been trying to recruit more volunteers.
Wilburn, his parents and two brothers moved to the area from Richmond last May, but he made friends quickly.
Twin brothers John and Lee Whitaker live in Wilburn's neighborhood and often did things with him and his older brother, Travis.
"He really liked the outdoors," recalled Lee Whitaker, who said the teens and some other friends camped out on Read Mountain a few times. John Whitaker said Wilburn enjoyed riding his bike, sometimes pedaling to Valley View Mall.
"He was nice to everybody, never mean to anybody," John Whitaker said.
The brothers said Wilburn also liked to work with his hands, evident from his interest in woodworking. He'd made a cutting board for his mother and was working on a chest of drawers in the wood shop class where he collapsed.
His shop teacher, Bill Kohler, said Wilburn will be missed greatly.
"He was probably one of the nicest kids that I've ever taught - just a real pleasant kid," said Kohler, who has been teaching for 27 years, 11 of them at Lord Botetourt. He said he would have held Wilburn up as a role model to other students.
Wilburn and some friends often showed up early for school to spend extra time working on shop projects, Kohler said. The teacher also stayed after school on Wednesdays until 8. Wilburn often stayed after, too.
He and Lee Whitaker were among the eight or 10 students who stuck around Wednesday evening, Kohler said. They ordered pizza after they cleaned up the shop.
Wilburn had glued together the frame for his chest's drawers Thursday, and Kohler watched him prepare to cut some wood on the shop's radial arm saw. Kohler turned his back for a moment to talk to another student. When he turned back around, Wilburn was on the floor.
He said he regrets not telling Wilburn how much he thought of him.
If he'd known he wouldn't have another chance, he said, "I would have grabbed him and told him, 'I really like you, kid.'''
Wilburn's unfinished chest sat in Kohler's classroom Thursday, along with the teen's bookbag, forgotten under a table.
Kohler said he might finish the chest, either with help from Wilburn's classmates or by himself, and give it to Justin's parents or perhaps display it at the school. Or he might leave the chest partially unfinished as a reminder that Wilburn wasn't able to finish it.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB