Painter and commercial artist Doris Overman Howard was born Doris Overman on August, 5, 1892, in California. Dates for her activities are scarce, but it's known that she earned a degree in landscape painting from Stanford University, and in the 1920s and 30s she lived in Santa Barbara where she worked in the art department of the Daily News. Among the places she exhibited was the Oakland Museum in 1936. She married Edward Howard in 1926, with whom she had three children. They would eventually moved north to Calaveras County. 

A noted conservationist, her painting "Sequoias, South Grove" was reproduced and sold across the United States to raise funds for the preservation of South Grove natural area in Calaveras County, which would eventually become a California State Park. She was a member of the Calaveras Art Association. 

Doris Overman Howard died in the hamlet of Mokelumne Hill on January 6, 1973.