Wolfrum was born on January 16, 1926, in Warrensburg, Missouri, the son of Oscar William Wolfrum and Lucille Bales Insley. He studied at the Central Missouri State University, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology in 1949. He then earned a Master of Science in fisheries management from Cornell University in 1952. Between 1952 and 1956, he worked as a District Fisheries Biologist with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. In 1956, he enrolled at the Seminary of the Southwest, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1959, and awarded a Doctor of Divinity in 1981."Coloradans Choose Suffragan Bishop", Episcopal News Service, 18 September 1980. Retrieved on 22 January 2021.
