Like others here in Union, a textile community of 10,000 people that became a focus of national attention because of the Susan Smith murder case, he had believed that the dark period in the town's history was finally beginning to lighten. ''Tim and his family may be remembered like that,'' as linked to the Smith case, he said, but ''I don't think he'd like to be remembered like that.''

Wary of a repetition of the news media onslaught that followed the Smith boys' drowning, friends of the Phillips family formed a semicircle on Sunday around the front of the home of Patsy Phillips, Tim's mother, turning away reporters.

Sheriff Howard Wells said the events that led to the latest drownings started with a holiday get-together and cookout in Union on Saturday afternoon. Along with the visiting Mr. White was his common-law wife, Sonya Phillip -- who was babysitting Austin Roodvoets -- and her daughters, Ashley and Danielle.

Later that evening, the party of 10 all loaded into the Phillipses' GMC Suburban truck and went out to the lake to see the two monuments that townspeople had erected to Mrs. Smith's sons, Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months.

Mr. Phillips is believed to have been driving. The Suburban was parked on an incline, pointed toward the lake, with its headlights on the monuments, which are near the water's edge. (There are no lights at the lake, and so nighttime visitors often pull up to the memorials with their headlights on, to see.) Mr. Phillips stayed in the truck with the four children: Courtney, Meleana, Kinsleigh and Austin.

For reasons investigators cannot yet explain, the truck started to roll. It passed between the monuments, over a small tree planted in the boys' memory and into the lake, which drops off steeply not far from the bank.

Mr. White and Mrs. Phillips jumped into the lake to try to save those inside the truck. They were able to pull some of them out of the vehicle, Sheriff Wells said, but none of the seven who were by now in the water made it back to the bank. Ms. Phillip, with one of her two daughters in tow -- the other stayed behind at the water's edge -- ran to the road leading into the little park that surrounds the lake, and flagged down a motorist for help.