ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602260061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BUFFALO GAP
SOURCE: Associated Press
Three students at the same high school died in car crashes in less than a week, including a boy who was killed three days after the death of his Valentine's Day Dance date.
Sean Jones, 16, of Mount Solon died Thursday at a hospital after the car he was driving ran off Virginia 760 and struck a tree. Angela Marie Carr, 16, of Craigsville was killed Monday night when she was riding in a car that crashed on Virginia 42.
Both were juniors at Buffalo Gap High School, and Jones had taken Carr to the Valentine's Day Dance this month, said Bill Deardorff, principal at the 612-student school in Augusta County
On Feb. 17, Atley Armstrong, a 17-year-old senior, died in an automobile accident, Deardorff said.
Two other Buffalo Gap students have died this school year, one of cancer and the other a suicide, he said. A 1995 Buffalo Gap graduate, Scott M. Hickey, 18, of Staunton, died of meningitis last month at Virginia Military Institute, where he was a freshman.
``The student body is very close, and the community is very close with a lot of families that are related to each other,'' Deardorff said Saturday. ``I've been in education 32 years, and it's the toughest week I've spent in it.''
Deardorff said Armstrong, Carr and Jones were above-average students who were involved in school activities.
Jones was captain of the wrestling team and placed third in state competition last year. He sang in the school choral group with Carr. She played volleyball and was manager of the football and wrestling teams, Deardorff said.
Armstrong was involved with his church and the Future Farmers of America and worked as a school office assistant.
Deardorff said ministers, psychologists and mental health counselors have visited the school to help students deal with the deaths. ``Teachers themselves have worked very closely with the kids,'' he said.
State police will visit the school Wednesday to talk about driver safety, he said.
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB