Platz was born and raised in Pittsburgh, in a family that attended church regularly, but was not religious.
While the other four women enrolled were all on the education track, Platz was able to persuade the administration to allow her to take on the Bachelors of Divinity program.
[2] After graduating in 1965, Platz served as chaplain for the Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Maryland, College Park.
She also was devoted to interfaith programming and established a fund in memory of her husband Wofford K. Smith, who had been the university's Episcopal chaplain.
At the 2005 Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA in Orlando, Florida, a special program was held in honor of the 35 years since Platz's history-making ordination.