Carol Hagedorn Buschmann

Sandman" and "Lollipop" on the national charts. Born in Sheboygan on May 13, 1927, to Otto and Helen Hagedorn, she used to crawl into the cavity behind the family radio, sing, and pretend the box was doing it. She graduated from Central High in 1945, studied at a CBS broadcasting school in Chicago, and typed for World Book on the side. On a train home she ran into Dottie Hummitzsch, who needed a baritone for a Sheboygan quartet that had started as folk songs in a Superior Avenue living room. Carol said yes.

Jinny Osborn founded the group; Carol replaced Alice Mae Buschmann Spielvogel as baritone in 1947 and outlasted the lineup changes. The Chordettes won Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, moved to New York, and recorded the hits. She sang on every major recording and missed only one tour, to have her daughter Janet, which she called the actual accomplishment. A good baritone, she told her daughter, should never be pickable in the blend; the job was to make the others sound expensive. She married Bob Buschmann in 1952, ran the White Rooster on Long Island, where the Jets drank, and in 1968 brought the family back to run Toro's sporting goods downtown, then the trophy shop.

She made the Sheboygan Softball Hall of Fame for writing checks, not hitting. The Vocal Group Hall of Fame inducted the Chordettes in 2001. Fan mail still arrived after dementia set in. She died in Sheboygan on September 30, 2023, at ninety-six, the last Sheboyganite Chordette. The memorial was at Ballhorn Chapels on North 8th. Born, schooled, and buried in the city, she came home in 1968 and never left again.