Hinds was born in Webb City, Missouri, USA on 22 October 1910. Her parents were Francis Woods (1869–1955) and Cora Ida Weaver (1877–1976). She had 13 siblings. She grew up in Oklahoma. She later moved to Overland Park, Kansas, where she worked at a sewing factory for a few years.

On 2 February 1935, she married William Hinds in Miami, Oklahoma, USA. The couple had two daughters: Clerenda Sue and Carol Jane. She worked as a sewing machine operator at the McGraw-Edison Plant in Macon, Missouri. She was an active member of the Church of God Holiness.

Her mother lived to be 99, her sister Edith Smith (1901–1995) lived to be 93, Edith’s twin sister Ethel Scoles (1901–2003) lived to be 101, and her brothers: Walter Woods (1915–2017) and Lester Woods (1918–2020) both lived to be 101.

Until the age of 100, she lived on her own in her apartment in Callao, Missouri.

As of October 2021, she had 8 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren, 2 great-great-grandchildren. On her 111th birthday in 2021, the Mayor of Macon, James “Talt” Holman, declared her birthday “Velma Hinds Day”. When asked about the secret of her longevity, she attributed it to “being good, loving the Lord and being sassy”. Coincidentally, she resided at the same nursing home as Naomi Curtright, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 110.

Hinds passed away in in Macon, Missouri, USA, on 8 June 2023, at the age of 112 years, 229 days.