May Parker

## Personality

Maybelle Parker is a very maternal person, born from her own troubled past. Having witnessed her parents' consistent arguments as a child and later their subsequent falling out, it led May to becoming financially focused and on finding stability. She also developed a tendency to speak her mind and being a confident woman if one deals with rough instances of her past. However, she changed considerably meeting Ben Parker. Initially dismissive of him for his lack of money, she began falling for Ben when he saved her from a mistake and got to know him as an honorable and reliable person. She further changed upon having taken her nephew in to raise. While she showed concern due to her own background, May quickly came to indulge in motherhood, wanting to provide her nephew that stability her life lacked growing up.

However, she never lost her tendency toward sharp-witted comments nor her independent streak. It just became tempered with the wisdom of age and the protective instinct in becoming a surrogate mother for her nephew, as her stern lectures are tinged with intense undertones. However, her own concerns on stability meant she could occasionally be overprotective of Peter. She also places a good deal on family and encourages Peter to open more to his peers, likely based on her regrets on having lost touch with her siblings and cousins. With the loss of her husband, May has been struggling more with providing with Peter while also helping him grow to be the man he is meant to become.

## History

### Early Life and Adulthood

Maybelle Riley was born the middle daughter of the Rileys, a family of Irish-American descent in May of 1943. Much like her future husband, May was born into the working class. Unlike her husband though, her family life was rougher. Her parents' once happy marriage ended up gradually breaking down due to the injury of her father, Albert Riley, preventing him from going into the army and was not able to find substantial work, meaning that his brothers needed to help. Additionally, with her sisters and cousins, it just added to the growing expenses within the family. Eventully, her parents split ways and May had to be taken in by one of her uncles in after Albert left her mother. The financial troubles and subsequent followed influenced Maybelle. It helped ignite a powerful independent streak within her yet at the same time, it also caused her to grow distant from her family, epsecially with April Riley. Once her closest sister and now the family black sheep. Additionally, the upbringing also instilled an emphasis on financial security and perhaps having a bit of trouble with her choice in life partners.

Working her way through school, Maybelle defied expectations and graduated though she could not go to college due to financial reasons. Instead, she would take up waitressing and other odd jobs within to raise enough money for herself to eventually get an education beyond high school. While she may have lacked direction, she possessed spirit to make up for it and she would take on various odd jobs and so on within the city. She would even participate in various second-wave feminist protests in the 1960s. Despite this though, she never lost opportunity to try and better her life. One day, she would be charmed by Jerome Jackson, a handsome rogue though she was warned against him by Benjamin Parker, who worked in the carnival. Despite the rough start, Ben was correct s she would nearly become an unwitting accomplice in Jerome's attempt to rob a store, which is how he maintained his wealthy lifestyle and bought her the gifts. She punched him out in disgust and after Ben helped her prove her innocence and return the items, the two would begin to date. Sensing the hoensty, earnestness and stability Ben possessed, May was drawn to him while he was drawn to her fiery spirit. The two would date over the next few years before he proposed to her and she accepted.

### Raising Peter, Losing Ben

The next several years were filled with a quiet life as he would support her decisions and vice versa, including her protests. However, when she was pregnant and then miscarried, it reminded her of her family and of what happened in the past. This led to a mild fear of starting a family and along with the miscarriage, did not try again to start one. Positives did come in her bonding with Mary Fitzpatrick, the girlfriend and later wife of her brother-in-law, Richard. She grew closer to Mary than she was to any of her sisters and given how Mary lacked a strong mother figure in her life, May took the opportunity to help Mary, especially with her own pregnancy. While initially worried to look after Peter, both when the Parkers were alive and then gone, she saw him as the son she never had and she focused primarily on providing him with the stable environment and life she did not have growing up. Though her happiness once more shattered upon the death of her husband, but she sought to continue. She used her waitress skills to get a new job at the new Starbucks opening up that were becoming all the rage. She may have lost Ben physically, but he would always be with her in spirit.

## Trivia

* May’s wheatcakes were a recipe she came up during her time as a waitress, having combined some leftover flours along with molasses when traditional ingredients were out. They were a big hit in the Parker family.

* Besides her wheatcakes, May is considered a talented baker, both in sweet and savory dishes though according to Ben, her meatloaf is not her strong suit.

* May is a Protestant Christian and has attended church regularly. Ben and occasionally Peter have accompanied her to be with her.

* Despite her faith, many of their Jewish neighbors consider May to be an “honorary Jewish mother”, something which she found humorous. Seen through her fretting of Peter along with her growing usage of expressions over in Yiddish.

* Since her time working at Starbucks, she has gotten to appreciate and like coffee more. Peter occasionally hanged out there, liking the atmosphere.

* May has been trying to get Peter to meet her best friend’s niece though it has been difficult due to resistance on both sides. Ben has actually noted that she would be a perfect fit for Peter though noted neither are ready for it yet.

* May has a history of illnesses within the family within the Riley family, something which has been of concern both toward Ben and Peter.