American Airlines flight attendant called mom in LV

Keith Paul

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2001 | 11:02 a.m.

An American Airlines flight attendant called her mother in Las Vegas, after hijackers took control of the plane and later plunged the aircraft into the Pentagon.

Renee May, a 39-year-old flight attendant working on Flight 77, and others on the plane were ordered by the hijackers to use their cellular phones, said John Shields, manager of the docent and internship program at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, where May volunteered. May lived in Baltimore.

"The hijackers actually told the passengers to call their families and say they were being hijacked," Shields said he was told by a close friend of May's, who also volunteers at the museum.

May was the daughter of Nancy May, an employee of the Community College of Southern Nevada, John Kuminecz, a college spokesman, said.

Nancy May works in the admissions and records office as a clerk in the Charleston Boulevard campus, college spokeswoman Linda Campbell said.

Nancy May could not be reached this morning.

"The family is in mourning and is grieving," Kuminecz said. "They don't want to talk with anyone about this. They are simply trying to deal with the tragedy."

Renee May was at the art museum Monday for some additional training as a guide -- also known as a docent -- to get ready for the museum's reopening.

"I just saw Renee on Monday," Shields said. "She was so excited about the grand reopening. She worked so very well with the tours and giving touch tours for people with visual impairments or who are blind."

Renee May volunteered at the downtown Baltimore museum since 1997, Shields said.