Most people did not know when she was born, as her birth certificate was lost during the California earthquake in 1906. She was usually evasive about her age and sometimes claimed to have been born in 1906, even though her birthday that year was three months after the earthquake. Whenever this was brought up she would cheekily respond, "Well, it was an awfully big earthquake." Her family was even forced to guess her birthdate for her death certificate and grave, settling on 1902. It was not revealed that she was actually born around 1895 until after her death, when the 1900 and 1910 Censuses became public and gave her age as 4 and 13 respectively, as well as her high school confirming she graduated in 1914.
