Ursula Hemingway was the third of six children born to Clarence and Grace Hemingway. She graduated from Carleton College in 1925. She later became a well-known artist in Honolulu and was responsible for creating the Ernest Hemingway Memorial Award for creative writing at the University of Hawaii.
Ursula Hemingway married Jasper Jepson in 1923 and they had one child together: Gayle.
On October 30, 1966, Ursula Hemingway, suffering from cancer and depression, overdosed on drugs.