THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 17, 1995 TAG: 9501170062
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: LIFE IN THE PASSING LANE
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
With all the perils kids face growing up in the inner city, LeVar Thornton easily could have become another statistic of urban ills.
LeVar, a senior at Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, credits his family with teaching him the values that have kept him on a narrow path toward success - and survival.
His mom, Bina Thornton, who died when he was 11 after a long battle with cancer, was a guiding force.
``My mother taught me a lot before she passed away,'' LeVar said. ``She taught me to respect older people, how to treat any person really, and just not to be a bad person. You'd know if you did something bad, because you'd get a spanking. She taught me, basically, how to be a man.''
His mother, a nurse, and LeVar's dad, George Williams, had parted ways several years before she died but remained on friendly terms. LeVar lived with her and two older siblings, sister Michelle and brother Shawn.
He misses his mother.
``Seeing other people with their mom and you can't be with yours . . . ,'' LeVar said, his voice trailing off. ``Especially on big holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving and on her birthday, I wish she could be here.''
After his mother's death, LeVar remained with his brother and sister. But when Shawn joined the U.S. Army, the relationship between LeVar and his sister grew strained. LeVar felt she was overprotective and too bossy, his dad said, and they quarreled a lot.
Finally, LeVar asked if he could move in with his dad.
``LeVar favored it,'' Williams said. ``He really approached me to do that.''
Now, LeVar brushes off the problems with his sister as a ``brother-sister thing.''
``It's OK,'' he said. ``We still talk and love each other. She stuck with me.''
LeVar said Michelle and Shawn inspire him. Watching his brother complete high school and join the Army and observing how his sister juggles a job, business classes at Norfolk State University and a young child have made him appreciate the sacrifices and hard work involved in success.
Since his ninth-grade year, LeVar has shared a townhouse with his dad and stepmother, Renee, and their two sons, Travis, 5, and Chase, 4.
He's expected to help around the house. On weekends, he's in charge of cleaning the bathroom. He also does the evening dishes and has to keep his bedroom neat.
On Sunday afternoons during football season, LeVar and his dad relax in their carpeted living room and watch the games of the week on TV. LeVar likes the Los Angeles Raiders; his dad pulls for the Washington Redskins. The air gets heavy with good-natured jibes when the teams take the field.
In summer, Williams joins LeVar for a game of hoops. LeVar was a standout on his high school basketball team, good enough that colleges had begun to court him. But in one of the toughest decisions he ever made, LeVar gave up basketball this year to concentrate on school and his career goal of becoming an electrical contractor.
His basketball jerseys and the varsity letters he earned adorn the walls of his bedroom, along with posters of BMW cars - mementos of a trip to Germany last year as part of an educational exchange at the Norfolk Vocational Technical Center, where he is learning to work with electricity.
Williams tells his son to take pride in what he does, but his dad's actions speak louder: At least a half-dozen plaques recognizing Williams' work as a truck driver at Sandler Foods in Richmond hang on the family's living room wall: safe-driving awards, perfect attendance, professional driving.
One plaque reads: ``In recognition of efforts which best exemplify in attitude or action the spirit of getting the job done completely and accurately the first time every time.''
Perhaps because he was so young when his mother died, LeVar has learned to take care of himself. He likes his independence.
When he turned 16, he sought his dad's permission to get a job. He wanted to buy clothes and take girls on dates with his own money.
Williams remembers that LeVar had arranged to rent a car for his junior prom because he didn't want to ask for his dad's.
``If he wants something, he'd rather go out and get it himself rather than ask anybody else for it,'' Williams said.
Initially, his dad resisted the idea of LeVar's working, and later his desire to buy a car. Williams finally relented, with a condition: LeVar had to promise to keep up his grades.
Last fall, with his own money, LeVar bought the car, a sporty 1984 Ford Mustang GT.
Now, just a few months shy of his 18th birthday, LeVar looks forward to the day he can get out on his own. ILLUSTRATION: MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
LeVar Thornton's mother died when he was 11. he now lives with his
father, George Williams. He has two younger brothers, including
Chase, 4, whom he is holding.
KEYWORDS: FAMILY VALUES by CNB