Fredericksburg.com - A Spotsylvania County man was among four Marines killed yesterday in an ambush in Iraq’s Anbar province.

Cpl. Christopher Lee Weaver, 24, was a 1998 honors graduate of Chancellor High School.

He was one of 30 Chancellor graduates that year to attend Virginia Tech. Weaver graduated from Tech in December 2002 with a degree in history.

Tom Marlow of Alexandria, a friend from their days in the Theta Xi fraternity at Tech, said he'd talked to Weaver by phone the night he found out he'd be deployed to Iraq.

"He was ready to step up and ready to go," Marlow recalled. He was in positive spirits and felt he'd be doing what he'd trained for.

Marlow said fellow fraternity members looked up to and respected Weaver.

Even in college, Marlow said, Weaver's Marine training came through. He was smart and a leader, but he also had a sense of humor.

"If you went to him for help, he was always available," Marlow said.

"There really aren't many people I can say I respect more than Chris Weaver," said another fraternity friend, Jason Hayes of Stafford County.

At Chancellor, Weaver was voted "most typical senior" by his peers. He was also one of 28 seniors chosen as a "superlative" member of the class. A quote next to his name in the senior section of the 1998 Chancellor yearbook reads, "Two birds tied together have four wings, yet cannot fly." Weaver was a bright, quiet student, said Spotsylvania schools spokeswoman Sara Branner.

He took several Advanced Placement classes and was a member of the German and chess clubs, Branner said. He also participated in Students Against Drunk Driving.

Branner said the Spotsylvania school system is proud of Weaver's military service but saddened by the news.

"He was a good solid kid in our school division," Branner said.

Weaver completed basic Marine Corps training at Parris Island, S.C., in 1999, according to newspaper records. Weaver joined the Marine Reserve the summer after his freshman year at Virginia Tech, said Dan Frye, a friend since their teen years. Weaver majored in history at Tech, Frye said.

In a recent instant message conversation, Frye said, Weaver told him he might come home as soon as March.

Weaver was among four who died in an ambush attack on a convoy of the Fourth Combat Engineer Battalion’s Charlie Company.

Three other Virginia Marines also were killed in that ambush. They are Sgt. Jesse Strong, a Vermont man who was a student at Liberty University in Lynchburg; Cpl. Jonathan Bowling of Stuart; and Lance. Cpl. Karl Linn of Chesterfield.

The men were among 36 American troops killed in Iraq yesterday.

Company C, part of the 4th Combat Battalion based in Baltimore, was activated in June 2004, said Capt. Jamie Wagner of Company C, 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, and left for Iraq in September 2004. They were to return home in the spring.

A reporter embedded with those troops, Jim Dolan of WABC in New York City, said the four were killed when insurgents ambushed a Marine convoy leaving the town of Haditha, northwest of Baghdad, hitting a vehicle with a rocket-propelled grenade.

In Iraq, Company C was involved with the search for weapons caches, sweeping roads for explosives and building fighting positions, said Capt. Jamie Wagner of the company.