Thomas James Olmsted was born in Oketo, Kansas and his parents names were Pat Olmstead and Helen Olmsted. He also has two brothers and three sisters. He was raised on a farm in a city called Beattie, and attended school high school in a town called Summerfield. He then studied religion at a school called St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in a city called Denver, in a state called Colorado, where he obtained a college degree called a "Bachelor of Arts." The degree he earned was in the subject of Philosophy in 1969.