Was four years older than second husband
Nick Gurdin. Since it was considered stigmatic for a woman to marry a younger man, Maria lied about her age, claiming a 1912 birthdate on official documents from the mid-'30s on. (Back then, if somebody really wanted to be younger, they could be - simply by lying to the social security administration.) To muddle the records, she not only changed the year, but the month and date as well, from January 26 to February 8. She went to her grave with the wrong date.
