"Pertinax" is one of four different by‑lines Mary Sampas had in The Lowell Sun. She began writing under her maiden name, Mary Boutselis, when she was a Lowell High senior covering the Greek community (she was asked to do this after she sent in a report on a Greek club she was involved with); “Gal Friday”, after she married Sun columnist Charles Sampas, writing in his “Sampascoopies” a weekly wrap-up of Lowell news that readers sent to service people during WWII; "Pertinax", the name Sun owner/editor Clem Costello gave her when he asked her to write a five-day-a-week "smart" column for the editorial page, later moved to the top of the "op-ed" page (Pertinax was the nom de plume of a French political writer, borrowed from a Roman emperor), this continuing for about eight years, late 50s, early 60s; Mary Sampas when she moved into the paper's new "Lifestyle" section, currently reporting on people, places, parties in her busy Lowell life. During some of this time, she authored "Mary-Go-Round" for Boston's Greek American News weekly, on Greek celebrities, arts, events, etc.

She has always preferred to work on a free-lance basis, from her home. Among her favorite columns were those she wrote as "Pertinax" when she accompanied her husband to Europe for President Kennedy’s meeting with Gen. DeGaulle in Paris and Russia’s Khrushkev in Vienna, then going on to cover Jackie Kennedy in Greece. For "Lifestyle", she’s written a number of articles on her travels -- the favorites being a series on Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Singapore.

These columns were among many that Mary Sampas wrote for the Lowell Sun newspaper between mid-1958 and mid-1959.

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