Hollenshead was born as Margaret Berthot on 22 April 1911 in Chanute, Kansas, United States to parents Charles and Lena (née Chandler) Berthot. She had four younger siblings (two sisters, Leona and Mary Alice, and two brothers, Charles and Hugh).

As a child, she wanted to become a lawyer, but was refused. Instead, she studied music and then taught at different schools in the Chanute area for 35 years. She married Howard Hollenshead and gave birth to three children: Margaret Ann, Hugh and Lynn. The couple lived in Texas, California and Oklahoma before settling back in Kansas in 1947. Howard worked in the oil industry and joined Margaret’s family’s business, Berthot Planning Mill, after returning to Chanute. Howard died on 31 October 1988.

Margaret’s younger sister, Mary Alice Adell, died in 2011 at the age of 96. Margaret’s younger brother, Charles Berthot, died in 2022 at the age of 95.

In November 2017, Hollenshead moved to the Country Place Senior Living and Memory Care in Chanute, Kansas. She died on 28 April 2023 at the age of 112 years, 6 days.