Wormington earned a B.A. of Anthropology at University of Denver in 1935, a M.A. of Anthropology at Radcliffe College in 1950, and a Ph.D. of Anthropology at Radcliffe (Harvard University) in 1954.

In 1936 Wormington started cataloging all of the artifacts from the Lindenmeier site in Colorado at the Colorado Museum of Natural History (which is known today as the Denver Museum of Nature & Science). The Lindenmeier site is one of the first Paleo Indian camps to be excavated. The tools found were often associated with extinct bison. Worminton was in charge of the comparison of these artifacts with those found in Europe. While working at the museum Wormington began her own research at the Montrose Rock Shelters and the Johnson site. Along with her work in Colorado, she also participated in excavations at the Fremont village site in Utah. The research collected at the Fremont site supplied the evidence needed for Wormington to conclude in her report that the Fremont culture originated in the ancient Desert Culture of the Great Basin. Throughout her career at the Colorado Museum of Natural History Wormington assisted as well as acted as a consultant for many famous sites for Paleo Indian culture in the New World. During these years Hannah Marie Wormington became a close friend and later a mentor to several aspiring archaeologies such as Cynthia Irwin Williams and her brother Henry Irwin. Marie, as they knew her, always encouraged them to ask questions and pursue anthropology as a career.

In 1940, Wormington married George D. Volk, a petroleum Geologist and Engineer, but she chose to keep her maiden name. During World War II, Wormington took a leave of absence from the museum to travel with Volk until he was sent overseas. At this point she returned to the museum. Volk died in 1980, after 40 years of marriage. During those years he supported Wormington’s career by building screens and repairing shovels to be used during excavations as well as taking on dish duty at camp.

In the same year she left the Denver museum (1968), Wormington was the first female archaeologist to be elected President of the Society for American Archaeology. She had previously held the title of vice President twice (1950–51, 1955–56). She was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 1970, and in 1977 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of letters from Colorado state university. In 1983, the Society of American Archaeology awarded her the Distinguished Service Award, being the first female archaeologist to receive the award. Just two years later she was awarded the Colorado Archaeology Society C.T. Hurst award for her significant role in Colorado Archaeology. In 1988 she was once again awarded honorary Doctor of letters degree from Colorado College, the same year she was appointed the curator emeritus of the Denver Museum of Natural History.

Wormington died in her home in Denver on May 31, 1994 due to smoke inhalation after a fire that had started in the living room where she was sleeping. She had fallen asleep on the couch after lighting a cigarette; that cigarette then lit the couch on fire.