Olga Johnson Holcombe was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on July 25, 1886 to Frank G. Johnson and Hanna Johnson, two Swedish immigrants. She attended Whitman College, where she was involved in Phi Beta Kappa and the Women’s University Club, and graduated magna cum laude with degrees in english and history in 1909. She married Harold Holcombe in Spokane on March 9, 1912 and he was enlisted in World War I on September 12, 1918, at which point they were living at 1712 Oak Street, Spokane. In 1920 the couple were living with her parents at 1408 West Maxwell Avenue, Spokane, but by 1928 they had moved to Seattle where they both worked as high school teachers, she at Lincoln High School and he at Broadway High School. They lived for the remainder of their lives in Seattle, along with their summer house on Whidbey Island. The couple had no children, and Harold died in 1954. Olga continued to be heavily involved with Whitman alumni activities throughout her life. She died on September 21, 1986 in Seattle as the oldest living Whitman alumna at the time.