Born in London, England, Lynch served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II at Biggin Hill, Kent, before joining the American Red Cross in 1943.

While in Paris with the organization, she met Edward Donald Lynch, a medical officer with the United States Army, and following their wedding in 1945, moved to his hometown of Yakima, Washington.

She was promoted to associate director of the agency's domestic and anti-poverty operations, causing her to move to Washington, D.C. She was nominated as deputy administrator of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration in 1974, and although her nomination was initially opposed by the Daughters of the American Revolution on account of her British background, she ultimately served in the position for eleven months.

She resigned in March 1977 to join the University of Alabama as associate vice president but died of cancer after only a few months in the role.

[1][3][5] She was stationed at Biggin Hill, Kent, where she worked as an administrative officer and served as an assistant to Group Captain A. G. Malan and met Winston Churchill on several occasions.

[3][5][6] The base was often bombed by German planes, including during the Battle of Britain, and in 1943, Lynch joined the American Red Cross (ARC) as a home service worker.

The couple married the next April and, with encouragement from her parents, Lynch followed her husband, a United States Army medical officer, back to his hometown of Yakima, Washington, in 1945.

[17] In December 1971, Lynch resigned from the state legislature to join ACTION, a federal agency founded by President Richard Nixon that same year to encourage private sector volunteerism, as the organization's Northwest regional director.

[1][18][20] She served as the acting associate director of the agency's domestic and anti-poverty operations from June 1973, before being nominated by Nixon to the permanent position in September 1973.

[1] She was assumed to be a safe nominee due to her popularity in the Republican party, but her confirmation was threatened by a protest mounted by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

[6] Lynch spoke at the hearing, stating "the tenets of American democracy are particularly cherished when you are not born to them but with deliberation and conviction adopt them for your own.

In the position, she was tasked with assisting John Warner, the ARBA administrator, in organizing a series of events between March 1975 and December 1976.

[6][22] After eleven months in her role with the Bicentennial Administration, Ford appointed Lynch as the undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW).

The HEW secretary, F. David Mathews, put her in charge of the routine operations of the department, including its $120 billion budget and 140,000 employees, and its relations with state and local officials.

Golden Acorn Award for Service to Children and Youth, and the 1976 Phillips Medal from the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine.