Jane Ragsdale (Mrs. Dick Howell) is the director of Heart O’ the Hills.  She was a Heart camper and counselor, and served as program director from 1978-87. She has been one of the owners since 1976, and director since 1988.

Ever since her first summer as a camper, Jane wanted to one day have her own camp. It was her continuous desire that prompted her parents in 1976 to expand their camping interests beyond Camp Stewart by buying The Heart.

Jane was a camper at Mystic, Fern and Heart O’ the Hills as a girl, and was on the staff at both Mystic and The Heart prior to becoming a Heart owner. She is past president of the Camping Association for Mutual Progress, a member of The Association of Christian Camps and Conferences and the American Camp Association.

Jane’s forte in camping is programming, and the intimate knowledge of all the daily workings involved in making a camp operate smoothly and safely for the campers and staff.

Jane is an American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor Trainer, and has served on the board of directors for the Hill Country Chapter of the American Red Cross. She has been a National Rifle Association Basic Firearms Education Instructor.

Jane has packed a great deal of learning and experience into her 40 summers of camping, not to mention the experience gained growing up at Camp Stewart.  Jane received her master’s in business administration from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio in December 2000. Her undergraduate degrees are in journalism and Spanish, from the Texas Woman’s University in Denton. Jane also did graduate work in Spanish at the University of Buenos Aires while working at La Nación on an Inter-American Press Association fellowship. 

She is an ordained elder and sings in the choir of the First Presbyterian Church of Kerrville.  Jane is on the board of trustees at Presbyterian Mo-Ranch and Schreiner University. She serves on the advisory board of the Riverside Nature Center in Kerrville, and is on the Kerr Economic Development Foundation. She is a past director of the Texas Lyceum Association, and is a life member of TWU Alumnae Association.

Jane lives at The Heart with her husband, Dick Howell, and their 17-year-old son, Deen.
 

The Heart is owned by the Ragsdale family, with Si, Kathy, and Jane as major shareholders.

Silas B. "Si" Ragsdale Jr. began his camping career as a boy of 10 in the Texas Hill Country, and since that time, summer camping has been his greatest love.
      His experience in the camping field has been truly diverse, ranging from that of camper to owner/director of Camp Stewart and principal owner of Heart O' the Hills Camp for Girls. He is president of the National Camping Advisory Council and he served on the Governor's Advisory Council of Youth Camp Safety for the State of Texas.
      Si is a past president of Camp Association for Mutual Progress. He is a graduate of the first camp director's seminar at George William's College campus, Williams Bay, Wisconsin, which was sponsored by the Fund for the Advancement of Camping and the American Camping Association, in cooperation with the college.
      He has served as a member-at-large of the A.C.A.'s National Camping Council for Private-Independent Caps. Si is a member of Christian Camping International.
      A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin (and life member of the Texas Exes) and Castle Heights Military Academy, and a former infantry officer, Si was a board member of the Texas Chamber of Commerce through January, 1992. A member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity, he is a former western division vice-president, and was named to DTD Distinguished Service Chapter. He is involved in the Texas Chapter of United States Modern Pentathlon and was on the Foundation Board of Texas Woman's University.
      A member of the First Presbyterian Church, Kerrville, he is an elder; he has served as Chairman of the Board of trustees for Mo-Ranch. He was on the Texas Presbyterian Foundation Board. He also served as coordinator of Mo-Ranch's Advisory Board.

Kathy Coffey Ragsdale is co-director of Camp Stewart, and is actively involved in the day-to-day operations there.
      In addition to serving as camp mother, she coordinates all the menus and food purchases for both Stewart and Heart, supervises the camper reports and edits all the camp publications.
      She is also editor of the Camping Association for Mutual Progress newspaper.
      Kathy is a graduate of Texas Woman's University with a B.S. and B.A. in journalism and English. She was editor of the Daily Lasso, Redbud Queen, Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities, and active in student government. Following graduation, she worked for TWU in the Dean of Admissions Office. She is a past national president of the TWU Alumnae Association as well as a life member. She and Si were the first chairpersons of the TWU Parent's Association.
      In 1992 she was named a Distinguished Alumna of Texas Woman's University. Kathy is director emerita of the Texas Hunter and Jumper Association. She is a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Kerrville, C.A.M.P. and CCI. She is on the national board, Association of Independent Camps, and AIC lisiaon board member of the American Camping Association.
     Si and Kathy sent children to camp before buying Stewart and they feel that having been 'on both sides of the fence' makes them more sensitive to parental needs and concerns than they might have been otherwise. 
      There are four Ragsdale children: Jane, director of Heart O' the Hills for Girls (married to Dick Howell); Jeeper, associate director of Camp Stewart for Boys; Jon and Juli. They have one grandson, Silas Deen Howell.