Vicki Stokes
Appearances
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
He just felt like they didn't care. And, you know, he just, he didn't know where to go. And we tried to tell him, you know, you can't fight a company like that. Just let it go. And he said, I just, you know, I can't.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
I never went over to his house if there wasn't papers and boxes in his office or in his living room. He was always going through something.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
A lot of it. I don't think a day went by he didn't think about it. It didn't worry him. He was You know, he's just worried about it. When he started, he started losing weight, and he just looked old. I mean, he looked older than his brothers, and I could tell by that that it was a lot of stress and strain. And I guess that's when I noticed what a toll it was.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
That's when I started telling him, you know, why don't you just let this thing go? And he said, you know, I've come too far. I can't let it go now. They need to fix it.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
It was after that door blew out. He was very, very upset. We happened to go over there that day for something after that door plug blew out. And he was angry. I mean, to the point he was slamming things around. He said, You know, somebody's kid could have been sitting in that seat or something. There was no reason for that to happen.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
He gave me a long explanation of they had postponed it and he had to be there another week. And so I talked to him, and that's Sunday. He said, mom, I'm just going crazy sitting around in this room waiting on this and going through documents and going through paperwork.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
I was in JCPenney's buying some tops. And one of my sons, Rodney, called. And he said, Mom, where are you? And I said, I'm trying to buy me some clothes. And he said, well, the police just come by here. And I said, oh, my God, is it Mitch? And he said, yes. I said, Rodney, is it bad? And he said, yes.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
And so when we got here and Mike got out of the car and I said, what happened? What happened? Where did he? He said, Mama, he took his own life. And I just, I did not believe that. I mean, that was just, there was no way. I just did not believe that. I mean, it was just, it wasn't a good day.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
Because I just wasn't like him. I mean, I just... I could not believe... Especially, he was... He's fought this for eight years. He was right at the end, from what I understand, another couple of hours, and it was done for him. You know, so... Why... At that time, would he do that? We just have a lot of questions about that.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
I went to his house before he left and hugged him. Told him to be safe, all the things that mamas say. And told him not to worry, everything would be all right. And that was... the last time I saw him. And if I'd have known that, I'd have hugged him a lot longer. But anyway, I'm sorry. Let me just take a minute.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
He loved Boeing. He loved the company. He was frustrated. He was proud to work for him. In fact, I was telling somebody a while back when we started cleaning out his house, I couldn't believe that he still had his bow and shirts hanging in the closet.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
You know, I asked him, I said, what do you mean? He said, well, I just don't have a good feeling. I'll just be glad to get this trip over with. He says, I'm not scared. He said, I just don't have a good feeling about this trip.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
He would come home and I'd notice he was working a late shift and I'd notice he wasn't going to bed. So I'd get up and go downstairs and, you know, he'd just be sitting outside drinking coffee or something. I'd ask him what was wrong and he'd say, I just don't understand, you know, why they They won't fix things. And that's when it started bothering him.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
And he said, I go to my boss and they don't seem to care. And he said, try to go up the line. And he said, I just can't get anything done. And that's when we started noticing, I noticed it affected him mentally or, you know, stress. He just worried about it all the time.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
He said, well, because it's the right thing and somebody has to do it. And he told me one time, Mama, if something happened to one of those planes that I signed off on, I could never live with myself. He said that somebody's mother, daddy, brother or child on those planes. And he said, you know, I just have to pursue this. Music