According to his family members and coworkers, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant who was based in Las Vegas has died from COVID-19.Maurice "Reggie", a native New Yorker, was positive for COVID during training in 2014. His brightly colored pants earned him nickname Skittles. According to Marcia Hildreth (a Southwest flight attendant), he was her best friend and had been fighting the virus for over a month.Dawn Shepperson, Dawn's mother, said that her son died on Tuesday morning from complications caused by a ventilator. She was told by a nurse that it was COVID.Hildreth and his mother said that Shepperson, 36, had been fully vaccinated. Hildreth stated that Shepperson loved to fly and was very careful about taking precautions, including wearing a mask and constantly washing his hands.Dawn Shepperson stated, "It hurt so bad because it was so quick." "I didn’t have the time to even acknowledge what was going on. This is amazing. It isn't real. It isn't real. It isn't real.Hildreth stated that she is also in disbelief.She said, "I'm going miss my friend,"Marcia Hildreth, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant, and Reggie Shepperson were often together on work trips. Shepperson was killed by COVID-19 on Tuesday.Brandy King, a spokesperson for Southwest, confirmed Tuesday that a Las Vegas-based employee had died. However she declined to give details. Shepperson’s mother stated that Southwest reached out to her. Hildreth claimed that Southwest reached out after Shepperson died and pulled her from a trip to Las Vegas so she could fly home to Las Vegas on Wednesday.King released a statement saying that he was heartbroken by the loss of Southwest employee. "We are sorry to inform the family that we don't have any additional information.Southwest Airlines and other airlines do not have statistics about the number of COVID deaths and cases among flight crew members. The Association of Flight Attendants - CWA, which represents flight attendants at United Frontier, Spirit, Hawaiian, and Spirit airlines, estimates that approximately 4,000 have been infected and 20 have died.Continue the storyThe pandemic begins early: A flight attendant at American Airlines dies from coronavirus. This raises fears for the industry."Reminder of the reach of this pandemic": Two JetBlue employees were killed by coronavirus complications while on the same flight"She needed the money": Phoenix flight attendant, now 79, is lost to grief by her family from COVID-19Hildreth stated that Shepperson was active throughout the pandemic, and was forced to leave work multiple times because of COVID-19 exposure. She said that he did not test positive for COVID-19 until July.Shepperson was a coworker's definition of a high flyer. He took more work trips than others. He traveled wherever he could, partly to make money.Kiki Lee was in Shepperson’s flight attendant training course in Dallas in 2014. Southwest is based in Dallas.She and the other newly-minted flight attendants wanted to return home after five weeks of training. Shepperson began using the employee flight perks. Lee recalls that one of his first trips was to China.Lee stated, "He was flying high, making use of his benefits." Lee said that he enjoyed working and loved the perks.Shepperson's Facebook page showcases his travel experiences, including many work trips to Hawaii. He took his mother with him on the June trip. According to his mother, that was his last Southwest work trip before he became positive.Lee stated, "He loved to travel and anyone who knew him knows he loves his mother."Shepperson met Travis Pittman in Las Vegas, another Southwest flight attendant. He moved to Nevada from Tampa in 2016.He said, "That New York exterior can be hard and all that," He was sweet inside and so loving. It was just a joy to be around.Dawn Shepperson stated that Reggie, who she raised by herself after her father's death at 14 months, made Dawn proud each time she passed through an airport Southwest terminal."People I don't know will find out that Reggie is my mother. They'll say, "Maam! You did a wonderful job." She said, "This is a fine young boy." "As a mother, it's so wonderful and proud to be able to raise my son right. That's what I wanted all of life."American Airlines cancels flight from Australia to Los Angeles after positive flight attendant COVID-19 testFlight training: 14 Hawaiian Airlines flight attendants tested positive for COVID-19This article first appeared on USA TODAY. Southwest Airlines flight attendant is killed by COVID-19
