Daughter of Effie Shade and Wilbur Lora Curtis and raised by grandparents Lora and Eliza Curtis. Sister of Ruth Curtis. Attended Loretto Heights college in Denver and graduated Colorado Teachers College in Greeley. Taught school in Somerset, Colorado. Married mining engineer Monroe Oliver Carlson in Gunnison on September 22, 1920, and had children Phyllis Mae and Monroe Curtis Carlson. Lived in several places before moving to Philippines. Both taken prisoner, his unmarked ship mistakenly bombed by American planes. She endured 3 years of captivity in Santo Tomas Prison Camp and was killed by a stray Japanese bomb after American forces entered the camp to liberate it.