Fleshing out details about Lois....

So...some details about Lois....

She lives alone.  Age range -- not necessarily obvious from what has been written so far.   Concerned with practicality over style. (Rockports)  Likes to rise early to enjoy solitude.  Clearly is secure with herself as evidenced by living alone and enjoying the early rising and getting to work while still quiet.  Or she could be shy, or have a bit of a phobia.

Weather doesn't seem to shake her morning routine.

She is a responsible neighbor -- wanting to hire neighbor kids, notices actions of neighbors and wants to conform.

She is has some disposable income (hiring the neighbor kids).  She works on a campus -- so possibly educated.

Details I would add...  Lois is in her late 30s - early 40s.  She is well educated - CPA, MBA.  She is employed in the administration of the campus as the VP of Financial Affairs.  She had been hired for the position by the previous President, Don Thomas and is still loyal to him.  She had worked with President Thomas' wife at a financial firm.  Lois is used to being nondescript.  She has done her best to not draw attention to her gender and dresses in basic colors with more boxy shaped jackets to draw attention away from her figure. She is very aware that she is in a male dominated occupation.  While she wears the Rockports to walk in, she keeps a low heeled black pump at her desk for work.

In the administrative office suite (renovated by the new president) Lois has chosen the smallest office farthest from the President's office.  However, her office has the arched windows with a diamond shaped panes which are a nod to the historic nature of the building.  With crowed bookshelves the office feels like a cozy professors office.  Her windows do open part way and over look the quad.

Lois spent a summer at the London School for Economics.  She wanted to stay but finances and family matters prevented it.

The college she works at is a small Christian liberal arts school.  She attended the school as an undergrad.  Her grandfather, a local banker,  had served on the Board of Trustees.  He would bring Lois and her siblings to events at the college when they came to visit.