[nfbmi-talk] Andy Virden

[Fred Wurtzel]

Hi,

 

here is another pedestrian killed and the driver not charged or even
ticketed.  Andy was a community leader.  I don't get it.

 

Advocate for blind Andy Virden hit, killed by vehicle in Waite Park

By Lisa Schwarz and Ben Katzner . lschwarz at stcloudtimes.com,
bkatzner at stcloudtimes.com

. March 13, 2011

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WAITE PARK - A longtime leader of the National Federation of the Blind
Central Minnesota

Chapter was killed Friday night when he was hit by a vehicle in Waite Park.

Andrew Virden, 83, was dead at the scene of the incident at Second Avenue
and First

Street North, according to Waite Park police.

Virden, who was blind and was using a white cane, was hit in the traffic
lane about

8:05 p.m. by a northbound vehicle driven by John Willenbring, 19, of Cold
Spring.

Police believe Virden was crossing Second Avenue North from west to east
when he

was hit.

No charges are pending, according to police. The driver was not injured.

"It was a big shock this morning," said Gayle Gruber-Bengston, former
secretary of

the Central Minnesota Chapter of the NFB.

"He was very friendly, he's had a lot of contacts in the community and
especially

in Waite Park," Gruber-Bengston said. "He had a lot of friends in town."

Virden and Gruber-Bengston met more than 50 years ago at Virden's vending
stand,

which used to be located on St. Germain Street in St. Cloud. Gruber-Bengston
said

that she didn't remember exactly when that was, but Virden left an
impression.

"He was intelligent. He knew what he was talking about, very well read," she
said.

"He seemed to know a lot of people by name if he heard their voices enough."

A 1946 Technical High School graduate and a 1950 graduate of St. Cloud State
University,

Virden had been blind since childhood. He became very active in the National
Federation

for the Blind and was a longtime force in the Central Minnesota chapter,
serving

as its president.

He was active in DFL party politics and in 2009 received a lifetime service
award

at the fifth Paul and Sheila Wellstone Dinner in St. Cloud.

He was grand marshal of the Waite Park Spass Tag Days in 1981 and was the
Wheels,

Wings and Water parade grand marshal in 1986, among other honors.

"He is going to be missed ... he knew a lot of people in town,"
Gruber-Bengston said.

"A lot of people knew him as someone who cared about people."

A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church,
Waite

Park. Daniel Funeral Home, St. Cloud, is handling the arrangements.