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Rocket enthusiast 'loved adventures'

45-year-old was proud to be part of X Prize win

BY JENNY SHEARER | Friday, Jul 27 2007 10:25 PM

Last Updated: Friday, Jul 27 2007 10:30 PM

Californian staff writer e-mail: jshearer@bakersfield.com

Charles Glen May died doing what he loved. May, 45, was killed Thursday in an explosion at Scaled Composites at the Mojave Air & Space Port.

Perhaps May was destined to pursue rocketry. He was named after astronaut John Glenn, said his mother, Shirley Booth.

She says her youngest son developed an interest in space at an early age, a curiosity she and his school teachers encouraged.

"It was always rockets or trains," Booth said. "He loved adventures, he had so many in life," she said.

After working for Scaled Composites for several years, May recently left to pursue another project and had only returned to Scaled on Monday, said Gerald May, his oldest brother.

But May returned to April May said her brother-in-law was proud to be part of the team that won the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004.

"Not very many people get paid to do what they loved," she said. "He did."

She shared a Web site on which May discusses rocket racing. He used to strap rockets powered by asphalt roofing tar and nitrous oxide to the back of a mountain bike and let them rip, reaching speeds of up to 60 mph. He also designed and built a rocket-powered canoe.

He loved rockets so much, he forgot to get married or start a family, she said. But May's mother said he had a longtime girlfriend who lived in Memphis.

His other companion was Rebel, a beloved black-and-white herding dog that joined May on hikes in the mountains near Mojave and on roadtrips to Huntsville, Ala., "to visit the rocketry folks there," April May said.

Rebel lived to be at least 16 before May had to put him to sleep, she said. "We know he's up there with Rebel."

He preferred the band Rush to Elvis Presley. May grew up on a 100-acre farm in Tennessee.

Although Glen May missed the rain and green landscapes of the country, he loved the open spaces of the California desert.

Funeral arrangements are planned for Friday in Collierville, Tenn.

"If you knew Glen, you would have loved Glen," Booth said.