Renee May

A month ago, he asked her to marry him. She said yes. And ever since, American Airlines flight attendant Renee A. May and David Spivock had been planning their wedding -- and their life together.

Now Spivock is immersed in other details, the kind required for obituaries.

His 39-year-old fiancee, he begins, was born in Buffalo but grew up in California and graduated from San Diego State University with an English degree. Her parents and brothers still live out West. She loved to travel and had flown with American since 1986. She loved art and worked as a docent at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, not far from the 150-year-old row house she shared with her cat, Cheyenne, in the city's Federal Hill section.

She especially enjoyed giving museum tours to young visitors. "She was blessed with a sweet voice," Spivock recalled yesterday. "All children loved to be with her."

The Dulles-Los Angeles flight was her regular route. "She was a strong woman, and she always emphasized that she was a safety professional, and that's why was she was there," he said. But after 15 years in the air, May was planning to quit. Even the usual risks of flying had begun to wear.

"It worried her a lot. It worried me, too," Spivock said. He was talking, of course, about more mundane possibilities such as storms or engine problems -- not hijackers acting on their hatred of the United States.

He is trying to dwell on her life, not her death. "She had beautiful blue eyes. She was just so alive. . . . She was the nicest person I [have] ever met."
Renee May

Renee May, an American Airlines flight attendant, lived in South Baltimore and worked as a volunteer guide at the Walters Art Museum.

She was the oldest of three children and grew up in California. Barbara J. Strong, her aunt, said Ms. May, 39, had been a flight attendant for about 10 years.

Terri O'Heir, an American Airlines flight attendant who lives in Stoneleigh, said Ms. May was "just someone you always liked to see."

"She was lovely. You knew flying with her you were flying with a professional," Ms. O'Heir said.

Gary Vikan, director of the Walters, said he first met Ms. May as a student in a continuing studies course at the Johns Hopkins University eight or nine years ago. She subsequently became a docent at the museum, leading tours for schoolchildren. She often wrote Mr. Vikan detailed messages on issues affecting the museum.

"She was a very quiet, very rare kind of person with wide-ranging interests," said Mr. Vikan, adding that Ms. May was also active in protecting the rights of flight attendants. He said that she once asked him to sign a petition on that issue, which he did.

A friend of Ms. May's told the museum of her death shortly after noon yesterday, said Mr. Vikan.

"Everyone was crying," said Mr. Vikan. "This just sent everyone into shock."

Neighbors described her as an outgoing person who opened her home to children and loved neighborhood get-togethers.

"She was the type of person that would talk to everyone," said Millie Bratcher, 37, who lived two doors away from Ms. May. "She always had a smile on her face."

Mildred Colwell, Ms. Bratcher's mother, said Ms. May would give her a bottle of wine as a present for taking in her packages when the attendant was out of town.

"I said, 'Renee, I don't want nothing.' But she insisted," Ms. Colwell said.

Neighbors said Ms. May had a serious boyfriend who had helped her make some repairs on her house over the weekend.

"He came by [yesterday] to pick up the mail," said Sharon Mondshour, who lives across the street.