Not many people knew what Mary McGinnis did.
Her sons were even a bit fuzzy on it. They knew she was an astronomer, a scientist, and one of the leading one's in her field.
Mary worked at Astro-Tech. Her late ex-husband had been a research scientist at Wayne-Powers. Her hours were from six-to-seven on a good day. She was over worked, and underpaid, despite being a leading researcher in her field.
What people didn't know was that she'd voluntarily taken two pay cuts so that her coworkers didn't have to. That even during her divorce, she'd showed up with a smile to work every day. That every weekend she volunteered at the local soup kitchen and even when money was tight she always managed to make a donation to the local homeless shelter.
She wasn't overtly religious. She'd never even had a god-phase, but neither had she ever had a rebellious phase.
Mary McGinnis just tried to do what was right. She was the quiet sort, not like her eldest son, but more like her younger son. She didn't ask for recognition, but neither did she shy away from it.