Carol Land Ragsdale was born October 11, 1923 to Chalon T. and Maragaret P. Land in Enfield, Illinois. After completing courses at Enfield High School, she received a Bachelors of Music from Murray State College and then pursued a Masters in Music Education at Northwestern University. In addition she received a Masters in Reading at Alabama State and a 6-Year Teaching Certificate in reading from Columbus College. After moving to Columbus in 1954, she began teaching at St. Thomas Episcopal Pre-School and later directed orchestras at several schools in the Columbus School System. She worked in the Columbus School System for over 50 years with her final 20 years spent teaching remedial reading at Cusseta Road Elementary School. In addition to her work in education, she was also an accomplished violinist and cellist with a passion for jazz. It was this passion that led her to help found the Columbus Jazz Society. She was also a member of the Atlanta Jazz Society. Mrs. Ragsdale died on February 4, 2003.