A pianist and soprano vocalist from Kansas City, Kansas. She entered Norwestern University School of Music in 1942 and graduated with a bachelor of music degree in piano and voice. She did summer term study with Miss Harley at K. C. U. several summers, then attended the Juilliard School of Music in New York at summer school in 1946. She would move to Chicago to further her career in 1947. She would marry the flutist Martin Lerner in 1956.