Greenville Kayaker Dies When Boat Overturns

A Greenville kayaker is dead after her boat overturned in the Potomac River near Great Falls, Md.

According to a WYFF story, 23-year-old Shannon Christy died after being pinned under the water.

The story said that Christy and another kayaker were having trouble on Thursday during a practice run on the river. Rescuers were able to get to the first paddler, but were not able to save her.

Montgomery County Police said Friday Christy was trying to kayak down the falls and was pinned under the water. Several media reports have said that Christy had taken off her life jacket to swim to the Maryland side of the river.

Christy was in Maryland to participate in the Great Falls Race to be held this weekend. 

Christy's last Facebook post was a picture of her application for the Great Falls Race. In the paddler's bio, she had written, "I just like smiling. It's my favorite."

Starting out as an intern, Christy worked for the past couple of years in marketing at Confluence Watersports, a major kayak and canoe manufacturer based in the former Hitachi plant at 575 Mauldin Road, employees there said Friday evening.

Company officials were unavailable for comment late Friday, but two employees at the plant remembered Christy fondly.

"She was a happy person," fellow employees Teresa Hicks and Felicia Simpkins said almost simulateneously when asked to describe her.

The two women said the plant had set aside a room in the building where employees could go in and sign a book and leave their memories of Christy, who was universally liked throughout the sprawling facility and whose infectious smile seemed perpetually etched on her face.

"The smile that you see on the pictures? That's her, every day," Simpkins said. "She will be really missed."

Mauldin Patch editor Hal Millard contributed to this report.