Lucy Johnston was born on August 6, 1907, in Wales, North Dakota. She was the daughter of George and Caroline (Gale) Johnston. She attended the University of North Dakota, where she was active in Chi Omega, Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Sigma Rho, Kappa Psi Omnicron, and the Mortar Board. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in January 1927, followed by a diploma in education in June 1927. She also attended Tufts University, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in 1929.

She married Wylie Sypher in 1929, the same year she began a long career as an instructor in English and history at Lasell Junior College in Auburndale, Massachusetts. She published her first children's book, The Edge of Nowhere, in 1972. The story was set in a tiny North Dakota village in 1916. Sypher told Contemporary Authors Online that "it is autobiographical to a large degree, but beyond that was my desire to present a whole way of life that has now disappeared." She continued the story in Cousins and Circuses (1974), The Spell of the Northern Lights (1975), and The Turnabout Year (1976).

She received the University of North Dakota's highest honor, the Sioux Award, in 1977. She died in December 1990.

Source: Folder 1 of the collection