Founders

Beginning in the early 1940s, a small group of women envisioned and began offering music scholarships to college and university students, and supported local music and arts organizations, in the greater Kansas City area.

The Kansas City Music Foundation was incorporated in the State of Missouri on September 16, 1971, and received its tax exempt 501(c)(3) designation from the Internal Revenue Service on April 20, 1972.

The minutes of the organizational meeting list the following as initial members and incorporators:

Georgia Ashwill
Marguerite Baeke
Shirley Bean
Sara Bick
Ruth Blake
Norma Crowley
Nell Dorsey

Mary Jane Frohardt
Bess Hamacher
Ruth Lashbrook
Julie Lea
Mamie Grace Leonard
Dianne Maier

Dixie Lou Morris
Flora Myers
Nancy Officer
Marjorie Ounsworth
Norma Pesch
Susan Rice

Kristin Sager
Mignon Si Ok Lee
Ila Swanson
Linda Symon
Doris Tharp
Cheryl White