Just two weekends ago, Cherise Davis-Jones and her husband, Less Jones, brought their children to a church Back-to-School celebration, where the family enjoyed hot dogs, horseback rides and turns in a bouncy house in Robbins, the community where the couple grew up themselves.
“You didn’t see one without the other,” said Myrtle “Cookie” Joyner, a cousin.
The couple were once again together, heading home from Bible study with three of their children Thursday night, when police say two cars suspected of drag-racing slammed into their minivan, killing both parents and injuring the children.
“This is probably as sad as it gets,” Robbins police Chief Mitchell Davis told reporters Friday morning. “You got parents who are in a minivan with their three young kids. They’re doing everything that they’re supposed to do.
“They got themselves buckled in, they got their kids buckled in, they’re going down the street not doing anything wrong,” he said. “Then, out of the blue, their lives are just devastated, and we’ve got three orphans now.”
Memorial vigils are planned for both Friday and Saturday night at the crash site, where municipal workers cleaned up debris – including a child’s shoe — that covered half a block. The couple’s three injured children – two boys aged 4 and 7 and an 8-year-old girl, were hospitalized and expected to recover, authorities said.
“The entire village is in mourning,” said Robbins Mayor Tyrone Ward, who added that he and others were preparing to do whatever they could to support the couple’s three injured children as well as five others who weren’t in the accident.
“We will be with (the family) every step of the way,” Ward said.
Davis-Jones, 43, was driving a 2010 Chrysler Town & Country minivan west on 137th Street in the south suburb around 7:45 p.m. Thursday when a 2001 Buick Regal and a 2005 Nissan Altima passed the stop sign at Central Park Avenue “at a high rate of speed” hitting the minivan’s front end. The minivan overturned after the impact, and was hurled into a vacant corner lot, Davis said.
Robbins resident Grady Stewart said he had just pulled over to park at his home near the intersection when he saw the two cars zoom by.
“I said to myself, “They’re not gonna stop at this stop sign,'” said Stewart, who estimated the cars were traveling 80 miles per hour.
The minivan overturned after the impact, and was hurled into a vacant corner lot, Davis said.
One of the other drivers was taken into custody at the scene and the other was transported to a hospital.
Davis said police suspect both drivers had been drinking. No charges have been filed yet.
Family members said Davis-Jones and Jones had been married for more than 10 years. Cherise was a stay-at home-mom, while Less, who recently had a pacemaker installed, frequented a cousin’s garage to help with mechanical work.
Barbara Campbell, Davis-Jones’ mother, said her daughter was “a beautiful girl, she had a giving heart, she was full of laughter. I raised a beautiful daughter. She loved to cook. She loved to go on a ride with her children. She was active in the church and a member of the choir.”
It was unclear where the family was heading at the time of the crash.
Ashley Henley, 18, Brianna Cotton, 17, and Rashawnda Myles, 17, stopped at a makeshift memorial set up at the crash site Friday. It consisted of stuffed animals, balloons and candles. The girls, seniors at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, all said they felt sad the children lost their parents.
“I can’t live without my mom,” Cotton said.
More Top Picks Fl 41 Glasses For Migraine
Myles, meanwhile, said she “can’t imagine” life without her parents.
Moments later, Marvin Johnson strolled up for a closer view of the memorial.
“They were my kinfolk, good folk,” Johnson said. “He was my cousin. It’s sad.”
Davis-Jones and Jones were members of Robbins Apostolic Church, family members said. But they also attended occasional services – and a Back-to-School event earlier this month — at St. John Community Church in Robbins, said Pastor Calvin E. Watkins.
“Coming to church was something they were doing to bring the family together,” Watkins said.
Watkins said the Jones family were back in his church last Sunday, when Davis-Jones approached him after the service to say the family’s car had broken down so the family walked over to worship.
On Friday, Watkins and other church members who recalled the conversation lamented that the car was fixed in time for the tragedy.
“We can’t take life for granted. We can’t take that we’re going to see each other tomorrow for granted,” Watkins said. “We have to live every moment as if we’re living right now for the last time.”
The family is asking for donations to the WW. Holt Funeral Home at 175 W. 159th St. in Harvey 60426 — 708-331-0310.
Dennis Sullivan is a freelance reporter. Vikki Ortiz Healy and Rosemary Regina Sobol are baiduhai staff reporters.
Daily Southtown reporter Steve Metsch contributed.