Most every person I have written about in this column has resisted being called a Neighbourhood Hero but they frequently know people who are "much more qualified," and suggest I write about them.

Today's Neighbourhood Hero, Mary Huntley, is the queen of all resistors.

She kept insisting that her neighbour, Martin (Martoon) Higgs was a true Neighbourhood Hero, not her. Martin is the man we featured last spring whose workshop is a meeting place for young people in the neighbourhood.

"As a volunteer Senior Citizen Councillor, I was just a referral service for people who needed help" Mary insisted. "In all conscience, I may have contributed something but certainly not to the point of being called a Neighbourhood Hero."

We talked for close to half an hour and throughout, she kept insisting that she was not a Neighbourhood Hero.

But that's not the way Anne Graves, recently retired from the Bowen Seniors group, and Ruth Matson of Family Life see it.

Both organizations referred clients to Mary, a lot of clients.

"Mary has done some tremendous things for seniors," Ruth told me. "She was amazing. There were no barriers that could stop her."

But before we get into Mary's story, let's take a closer look at why so many Neighbourhood Heroes resist wearing that mantle. It's got to do with the word "hero" I suspect.

The dictionary defines a "hero" as a person who is distinguished for exceptional courage, held in high esteem for superior qualities or deeds, a person of great nobility or physical prowess.

So by definition a "hero" is someone who is bigger, stronger, smarter and braver than either you or me, a person who has done something that most of us couldn't or wouldn't do.

On the contrary, Neighbourhood Heroes are average, everyday people, role models who have done simple, ordinary things. What makes them special is that they haven't just thought about doing something, they've done it and what they have done has made a big difference either in their own life or the lives of people around them.

Take a closer look and I'm sure you'll agree that we are all surrounded by Neighbourhood Heroes, people who have made a difference in our lives.

Take away our "heroes" and, for most of us, life would change little ... but take away our Neighbourhood Heroes ... and we would lose a lot.

Take away Mary Huntley and, over the years, hundreds of senior citizens would have lost a lot.

The job Mary did entailed helping seniors work their way through any bureaucratic problems they encountered with the government or others; tax problems, getting access to pensions or other income supplements, filling out complicated forms, that sort of thing.

Sometimes her job was as simple as lending an ear over the phone and pointing people in the right direction. Other times she found it better to go to the person's home to help them, face to face.

Whatever it took, whatever was best for the person with the problem, that's what Mary did.

"Mary never got flustered," Anne Graves told me. "She talked to the people in a tone that everyone could understand and she never faltered. She just worked at it until she got everyone's problem solved.

"She is a person who was always there when needed, never said no, and seldom said 'I can't help you,'... but the times she did say that, she would always end the sentence with, 'but I know someone who can"'.

"And people could trust her," Anne concluded. "She exudes a powerful feeling of trust."

Sounds like a Neighbourhood Hero to me.