ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 1996 TAG: 9602060090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Below
``IT'S JUST TWO of us again,'' said Jesse, 66. "Laurence froze to death.''
Nestled a mile and a half off Virginia 122 in Bedford County is a tiny five-room house, invisible from the road.
Old lawn mowers are parked outside, their handles peeking through the snow. Clear plastic bags filled with empty beer cans lean against one another. Streams of brown tobacco juice color the snow-covered walk.
Inside, there is a kitchen to the left, a blackened cooking stove straight ahead. Just beyond it is a room with a cloth-covered bed, a chair with peeling upholstery, plastic buckets that serve as spittoons and a wood stove. Country and western tunes blare from an old Panasonic radio.
The house has a sickly sweet odor of beer, tobacco and burning wood.
For years, brothers Connis and Jesse Whorley have called it home. Four months ago, their baby brother, Laurence, joined them.
Now "it's just two of us again," Jesse, 66, said Monday. "Laurence froze to death."
The Millstone Restaurant on Virginia 122 has a reputation, some of it deserved, some of it not, owner Judy Reynolds said.
It's the kind of place that can get a little rowdy, the kind of place that would post a notice that reads "This is not Burger King. You don't get it your way. You take it my way or you don't get the damn thing."
It was part of the Whorley brothers' world. It is where Laurence and Connis Whorley spent last Friday evening, doing what they had done most evenings before - eating a little, drinking a little, trying to shoot pool.
"Just before dark, I begged them to get going home," Reynolds said. "The snow was coming down. They had that long walk. But they would not leave."
Tears welled in Reynolds' eyes as she remembered gently, almost jokingly, scolding them that they would regret not heeding her words.
"That's what's so heartbreaking," she said. "I've tried not to think about it."
Laurence, 63, and Connis, 69, left the restaurant about 7 p.m. Reynolds said she closed early because of the weather.
The two brothers started home on foot, as they often did from the restaurant. Sometimes they'd hitch a ride with neighbors, who'd drop them off at a path about a quarter-mile from the house. Other times they'd walk the entire way, about a mile and a half.
Friday evening, neighbor Terry Overstreet gave the brothers a ride as close to their house as the roads would allow.
The two got out and tried to walk the rest of the way. Connis said the snow was knee-deep. He remembered Laurence, who was behind him, complaining about the cold.
Connis said he got home and sat down for about a half-hour. When Laurence didn't show, "I went out and shouted for him," Connis said. "He never did come. I thought eventually he'd come on home."
A friend of the brothers' found Laurence's body Saturday, lying under a pine tree just beyond a cow pasture.
The cause of death has not been determined. Connis said the funeral home told him Laurence might have had a heart attack. The Bedford County Sheriff's Office had said the cause of death appeared to be exposure.
It might have been a combination, Connis said. Laurence might have had a mild heart attack, got disoriented and lost his bearings, he said.
"He got turned around," Connis said. "He walked about a mile and a half the other way."
|n n| Connis sank back on his bed, his arms spread wide, his legs stretched out, feet flexed. His mouth was open, eyes closed. "They found him like this," he said.
Connis rose to greet Ronnie Mitchem, nephew of the man who found Laurence's body.
"I'll be by to get you on Wednesday for the funeral," Mitchem said. "Just be ready to go."
Connis nodded. Jesse, too.
Mitchem glanced around - to the thin piece of floral-print fabric that separated Connis' bedroom from what had been Laurence's bedroom, the wood floors with holes that showed the earth beneath - and shook his head.
"I've got to get you out of here," he said. "This ain't no place for you."
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. 1. Jesse (left) and Connisby CNBWhorley talk about their brother, Laurence, who Connis thought was
right behind him on the quarter-mile walk through knee-deep snow to
their house. 2. The Whorley house is on a ridge tucked between
higher ridges in Bedford County, and a long way from the nearest
road. Friday night, after shooting pool at the Millstone Restaurant,
Connis and Laurence Whorley were given a ride to a spot as close to
their house as the roads would allow. color. KEYWORDS: FATALITY