Otto Henry Ost was born on July 17, 1922, in Beulah, North Dakota. He married Barbara Ann Jerrow on September 15, 1951, in Kalispell, Montana. They had two children during their marriage. Otto earned his bachelor’s from the University of Montana and taught school in Montana for eight years. He later went to work as a personnel administrator for the USFS and moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1977. He retired in 1981 after a 28-year career.

Otto died on September 18, 1992, at the age of 70 in Tillamook, Oregon. He jumped at Missoula 1946-50 and is listed as headed one of the “rescue crews” sent to the Mann Gulch Fire in 1949.