Amazon driver who died in Edwardsville tornado was a ‘fun, loving guy’
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Tornado hits Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville. Six people killed
Here’s coverage of the aftermath storms that struck the metro-east in December 2021
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The Belleville News-Democrat is gathering information on each of the six people who died when a tornado caused parts of an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville to collapse. The brief profiles will be published as the information becomes available
Minutes before a tornado struck an Edwardsville Amazon facility on Friday night, Larry Virden, who was working at the site as a delivery package driver, sent his girlfriend a text.
“I was at home,” Cherie Jones, said. “He messaged me once and he was like--he always messages me-- (that) he was going to go fill up the (delivery) truck. He always said that before he brought it back in, and then I was like OK. My next text from him was, ‘Amazon’s not letting me leave because of the weather condition.’ That was my last text from him. We tried to follow him because we both have iPhones, so we can see each other’s phone to see where we were, and I couldn’t get nothing.”
Jones said the text was sent at 8:23 p.m. The tornado struck the Amazon warehouse around 8:30 p.m., causing the building to collapse and killing six people, including Virden, who were working there.
On Sunday, Madison County Coroner Stephen P. Nonn identified the victims as the following:
Austin J. McEwen, 26, of Edwardsville , IL
DeAndre S. Morrow 28, of St. Louis, MO
Clayton Lynn Cope, 29, of Alton, IL
Etheria S. Hebb, 34, of St. Louis, MO
Larry E. Virden, 46, of Collinsville, IL
Kevin D. Dickey, 62, of Carlyle, Illinois
Jones said Virden had only been working at the facility full-time for five months. The couple moved from Vandalia, Virden’s hometown, to Collinsville in March.
“This is where I’m originally from, and I wanted to move back there for kind of like a fresh start,” Jones said. “We were doing really good and now it’s just the luck of a bad draw, the bad luck.”
The pair shared three children (ages 12, 10 and 9) together. Virden has a 24-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, and a four-year-old granddaughter. Additionally, Jones said they had a handful of other children whom they didn’t formally adopt but treated as their own.
She also said that Virden was an Army veteran who served from 1999-2006.
“Larry really never met a stranger,” Jones said. “Larry would give you the shirt off his back to help you unless you crossed. He would help you with anything and everything. He loved to be outside. He loved his grand baby. He was just a fun, loving guy.”
Jones, who’d been with Virden for 13 years, said she and Virden had talked about getting married.
She hasn’t been able to fully process Virden’s death.
“I’ve been telling everybody: I don’t know right now,” Jones said. “Right now, I have everybody with me. I have my kids, the adopted kids, his mom (with me). Everybody’s here with me. It’s not going to really hit me until I’m by myself.”
Although Virden lived 13 minutes from the facility, Jones said she understood Amazon’s decision to keep employees at the facility because of the tornado warning.
“We just want people to know that we’re not mad at nobody,” Jones said. “We’re just sad, yes, because we want him home, but it was a natural thing. It was nobody’s prediction.”
Justice Virden created a GoFundMe to provide for her father’s funeral expenses. The family hopes to raise $10,000.
Funeral services for Larry Virden will be at Miller Funeral Home in Vandalia on Saturday, December 18 at 11 a.m. He will be buried at Mt Carmel Cemetery in Ramsey.
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 9:37 AM.
