Morris Conrad (M.C.) Olson was born June 24,1904, in Dazey, North Dakota. He attended Valley City State Teachers College, where he was a member of the Thalonian Literary Society and Pi Omega Pi Fraternity, graduating in 1931. He was hired as principal of Hazen High School in 1932, and held this position until May 1937. Olson received his Master's Degree in Education from the University of Montana in 1940. He served as a principal or superintendent of various schools in North Dakota.

M.C. Olson married Florence Bowen, from Valley City, on June 26, 1928, in Butte, Montana. He died July 29, 1995, in East Grand Forks, Minnesota.