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Polly Ramsay was born October 1907 in Chengdu (Szechuan) province China, the second of two daughters (Muriel, sister) to missionary parents with the American Bible Society. Her father, Hugh Ramsay, escaped the violence of the 1900 Boxer Rebellion while itinerating the Christian Gospel and exploring archeological sites on the borders of Tibet.

Rev. Ramsay was personally decorated by China's President Yuan Shi Kai for his flood relief service in 1917. Polly was home schooled until enrolled first in the North China American School and then in the American School Kikungshan. After her mother's (Ada) death and burial in Peking, the family returned to the U.S. in 1921 where Polly finished high school and attended Wheaton College for two years. She sang in the Women's Glee Club and a gospel quartet, wrote for the Record newspaper, joined the Aeolian Literary Society and served as class secretary. A heart condition caused her to drop out and, after recuperation, she subsequently earned a teacher's certificate in Wisconsin. While taking nursing at Augustana Hospital in Chicago she was met Marston and married in 1934. Children followed even as she practiced nursing in the Chicago area.

Prior to moving to Arizona in 1999, Polly resided in Placentia, CA where she and her pastor husband had retired in 1969 and where she excelled in art, crafts and writing her memoirs. Mrs. Marston was preceded in death by her husband in 1994 and daughter Muriel (named for Polly's sister) in 2006. Polly Ramsay Marston died in hospice care July 20, 2008 at the age of 100 in Payson, AZ. She is interred with her husband in Brea, California.