Katharine Wolcott Toll was born on 6 May 1913 and was raised in Amherst, Massachusetts. She attended Wellesley College and graduated in 1935 with a degree in English. Toll attended the Katherine Gibb Secretarial School in 1936 and also took feature writing courses in Boston. From 1939 to 1942, she worked as a feature staff writer for the Boston Post.

Toll joined the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in 1942. She attended midshipman's school at Smith College in North Hampton, Massachusetts, as a member of the first graduating class and was appointed to the rank of midshipman on 6 November 1942. Toll reported for active duty in January 1943. Her WAVES duties included helping pass clearance to water craft along the Eastern Seaboard, as well as writing naval reports for the District Historical Office Ship Decommissioning Program and staff narratives. She was also involved with the production of the Shore Salt, the First Naval District Women's Reserve News Monthly. During her time in the service, Toll was advanced to the rank of lieutenant. She was relieved of duty and discharged on 26 June 1946. Two of her brothers were also in the service; Henry Toll served in the air force and Charles Toll served in the army.

After the war Toll was recruited by the United Council of Churches to work with refugees in Germany. She also returned to journalism and displayed a strong interest in oceanographic environmental issues and solar energy. Toll undertook several literary ventures, which included trying to get a book of her brother's illustrated V-Mail published; writing a book about WAVES in service; and research on the World War II civil service of Gloucester, Massachusetts's fisherman. During the 1950s Toll began to work on a research project detailing the life of environmentalist Dr. Maria Telkes, a researcher on solar energy. She also earned a master's degree in Social Work from Boston University in 1958 and founded the Boston Social Services Exchange. Toll died in Massachusetts on September 30, 2007.