Biography

Carlson was born Laurie Edwin Carlson on January 12, 1908 in Bayfield, Wisconsin

Bayfield, Wisconsin

Bayfield is a city in Bayfield County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 611 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Henry Bayfield, a British Royal Topographic Engineer who explored the region in 1822-23....

. He attended Northland College

Northland College (Wisconsin)

Northland College is a small, coeducational, liberal arts college in Ashland, Wisconsin, USA. Founded as the North Wisconsin Academy in 1892, the college was established in 1906. Originally affiliated with the Congregational Church, the college remains loosely tied to the Congregational Church's...

, where he was a member of the varsity

Varsity team

In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...

 basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 team, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Carlson was also active in promoting the sport of curling

Curling

Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...

 and in his local Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 church. He would marry and have four children. Carlson passed away in March 26, 1999. After his passing, a joint resolution

Joint resolution

In the United States Congress, a joint resolution is a legislative measure that requires approval by the Senate and the House and is presented to the President for his/her approval or disapproval, in exactly the same case as a bill....

 by the Wisconsin State Senate

Wisconsin State Senate

The Wisconsin Senate, the powers of which are modeled after those of the U.S. Senate, is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature, smaller than the Wisconsin State Assembly...

 and the State Assembly was created to honor his life and was presented to his children.

Political career

Carlson was a founding member of the Wisconsin Progressive Party

Wisconsin Progressive Party

The Wisconsin Progressive Party , was a third party which briefly held a dominant role in Wisconsin politics. The Party was the brainchild of Philip La Follette and Robert M. La Follette, Jr., the sons of the famous Wisconsin Governor and Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr....

. As a member of the party, he was elected to the Assembly in 1936, taking office the following year. He would serve until 1942. Later, he served as Clerk of Courts of Dane County, Wisconsin

Dane County, Wisconsin

As of the census of 2000, there were 426,526 people, 173,484 households, and 100,794 families residing in the county. The population density was 355 people per square mile . There were 180,398 housing units at an average density of 150 per square mile...

from 1968 to 1976.