The name Carlson is fictitious. Her father Walter Eldridge Wescott abandoned his wife and children in 1935 or 36, except for Marie, age 12, whom he brought to New Jersey with him, giving her a new last name, Carlson. Marcia Ruzicka Marcantonio has old documents including her marriage certificate which
confirm both names belong to her. Under fear of harm to herself and her family left behind, she kept his lie until 1968 when her husband, working on a Bell Labs project in Wisconsin, convinced her it was time to find her Wescott siblings left behind in Minnesota. There was a wonderful reunion in Minnesota in 1968.
Marie A. Wescott Ruzicka, born aug 19, 1923, the daughter of Walter E. Wescott of Wilernie, MN, and Alice Chrisham feels she survived her significant childhood losses, thanks to the strength of her Wescott and Crisham genes. Marie, age 87 today (August 19, 2010), currently lives at Grace Park assisted
living (facility) in Stroudsburg, PA, and is doing very well.32