Hilma Ollila Carter was born in Jersey City, NJ on March 4, 1921 and soon moved to the Finnish farming community of Canterbury, CT where she lived on a dairy farm until her teen years.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Barnard College in 1945 and a Master of Arts degree in 1947 from Columbia University. She taught Spanish at the Dalton School, some New York City public high schools and White Plain High School until her retirement in 1978. Her first husband was a missing-in-action casualty of the Korean War.

Upon retirement she married jazz icon Benny Carter and moved to Hollywood where he lived. There she served as President of the Board of Directors of Stages Theater, an Avant grade theater that presented plays in Spanish, French, and English. She served as evaluator of theater in Los Angeles for the Ovations Awards given yearly for the best plays in the area.

In California Hilma was also very active in the Barnard College Club of Los Angeles and established a club scholarship fund for the College students from Southern California. She also endowed the Hilma Ollila Carter and Benny Carter Scholarship Fund for Barnard College. In 2001 Columbia University honored her for her contribution to the development of the Los Angeles Barnard Club.

During the Hollywood years Hilma traveled widely with her musician husband Benny Carter and on his professional tours. When he died in 2003, she left California and returned to her rural property in Sherman, CT. There she served on the boards of the Sherman Library and the Sherman Playhouse. She was also active in preparing programming for the Jewish Community Center in Sherman.

In December 2018 she moved to the senior citizen community of Pomperaug Woods. There she served as Secretary of the Library Committee.

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