Grandfather of 15 Identified as Truck Driver Killed in Colorado Train Derailment: He 'Loved What He Did'

“He even made sure to make us all feel individually loved,” said daughter Triana James

A grandfather has been identified as the semi-truck driver who died after a railroad bridge collapsed in Pueblo, Colorado on Sunday, according to multiple reports.

Lafollete Henderson, 60, left behind six children and 15 grandchildren, local radio station KRDO-AM reported.

“He would be on the road and be visiting so many places," daughter Triana James told CBS affiliate KKTV. “He would call me and say, ‘Did you know that you just cross right over into this county and it is so different?’ or, ‘You know, just the difference in the weather and the difference in the people and the cultures. He would always have some good stories to tell us.”

“He even made sure to make us all feel individually loved, so all of the grandkids have their own nicknames,” she told the outlet, adding, “The void is safety, the security, the knowing that you can call him. I’m telling you, if you were having a bad day, and just like ‘Dad, I’m going to do something bad’… and he’d be like, ‘Look, it’s going to be okay.’ ”

"I used to call in and check on him when there was an accident and there is no calling to check on him for this one,” James told NBC affiliate KUSA.

“This is just such a freak accident,” she told KKTV. “I’m still trying to process what is really going on.”

In the description for a GoFundMe page launched by James to cover funeral expenses, she wrote that her father “loved what he did” as a truck driver, adding the family “can take solace knowing he died doing what he loved though it won't shift our pain.” Nearly $8,000 has been raised as of Thursday evening.

Related: Family Escapes After Car Crashes Into Home, Causing Fire That Destroyed $1M Baseball Collection

The derailment of a coal train led to the collapse of a railroad bridge on Interstate 25 northbound Sunday, causing the death of Henderson, according to CBS affiliate KCNC-TV.

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No train personnel were injured during the collapse, CNN previously reported.

Related: 'Wonderful' 12-Year-Old Boy and His Grandfather Die After Head-On Crash with Semi-Truck

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg shared on X Sunday that he had contacted Gov. Jared Polis and was “briefed by Federal Railroad & Federal Highway Administrations” about the accident, adding that the United States Department of Transportation's “staff are en route."

Federal authorities said that the deadly collapse happened due to a broken rail, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

The bridge, which was built in 1958, is likely to remain closed for another few days, and crews will eventually assess the damage, according to the news agency.

Related: Mom Driving with Kids to Visit Family Dies in Crash Alongside Daughter, 3: 'Feels Like a Bad Dream'

On Sunday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) wrote in a post on X that it was investigating the accident.

“They will be pulling maintenance records," NTSB spokesperson Sarah Taylor Sulick said, per the AP. "They’ll be interviewing people involved. They’ll be talking to the railroad. They’ll be talking to the state"

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