ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 30, 1996 TAG: 9604010017
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DALEVILLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
IN THE FINAL MOMENTS OF JUSTIN WILBURN'S LIFE, school officials struggled in futility to resuscitate him. Now they are the pillars of strength for students who want to know why he had to die.
In the tense minutes after Lord Botetourt High School freshman Justin Wilburn collapsed in his shop class Thursday, four teachers and the school's principal worked furiously to revive him.
While one of the boy's brothers looked on, they performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation in shifts until a rescue squad volunteer arrived 10 minutes later.
But they may never have had a chance.
Dr. David Oxley, deputy chief medical examiner for Western Virginia, said Friday that the 14-year-old died of cardiac failure probably caused by a heart condition he'd had for years. Oxley said he was conducting more tests to be sure, but said he was confident that the heart problem was the cause.
At Lord Botetourt, faculty and students alike were trying to come to terms with Wilburn's death. As many as eight counselors from Lord Botetourt and other schools and Blue Ridge Community Services talked with students.
"I went home and just bawled last night," Assistant Principal Barbara Gray said. "But you go out there and put up a strong front."
Principal Jim Sledd said he's had his tough moments, too. Sledd performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Wilburn even after rescue workers arrived, and he rode in the ambulance with the boy.
Sledd was in his office when a student from the shop class ran in calling for help. Wilburn was working on a chest of drawers when he collapsed about 10:30 a.m. His first-period teacher said he seemed fine that morning when he talked about an upcoming research paper.
Sledd said he and the others began CPR as soon as they could. "His face was already blue when we got there," he said.
Sledd, guidance counselor Cheryl Campbell, teachers June Whitlock and Chuck Pound and substitute teacher Frank Coe all took turns working on Wilburn.
"You just can't let yourself quit," Sledd said.
It was Sledd's second time administering CPR. Four years ago, Sledd's brother died despite Sledd's attempts to revive him.
Sledd choked back a few tears in his office, but he and his staff did their best to make life in the hallways and classrooms as normal as possible Friday. It was club day, but teachers were told that any student who instead wanted to see a counselor could leave class to do it.
A steady stream of students filed into the counselors' offices.
The Wilburns moved from Richmond in May, but Justin and his older brother, Travis, made friends quickly.
"It's a lot of anger, a lot of 'life is not fair,''' said Dorothy Lawson, a counselor at Botetourt Intermediate who was helping at Lord Botetourt on Friday. "They'd like to think that somewhere along the line there can be some blame for this. That would mean someone is in control."
In the wood shop, classmates were already memorializing him. They spent the morning routing out a wooden plaque and burning the words "In memory of Justin" into it, along with all their names. Shop teacher Bill Kohler signed his name, too.
"We're going to hang it above where he fell," Chauncey Wilder, 16, said as he sanded off the last rough edges.
After lunch, word spread through the halls about a memorial service that is planned for 3 p.m. Sunday at Oakey's North Chapel.
But the school had heard little else from the Wilburn family - parents Mike and Holly WIlburn; brothers Forrest and Travis - since Thursday evening, when Gray, the assistant principal, spoke to Travis.
Gray said Travis wanted Sledd to know he had never liked him before, "just because he's the principal, I guess."
But knowing that Sledd got down on the floor and tried to bring his brother back to life, Travis told Gray, he'll never look at Sledd the same way again.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Wilburn. color. KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB