Former 6th JDC Judge Alwine Mulhearn Smith Ragland, 92, died Sunday, April 30, 2006. She earned her undergraduate degree from Principia College in 1932 and her law degree from Tulane Law School in 1935. After practicing law from 1935 to 1974, she was elected to the 6th JDC bench in 1974 becoming the first female elected as a judge in Tallulah Parish. She was reelected to that seat in 1978 and 1984. She served on the 6th JDC bench for 16 years, leaving her seat in 1990. A member of the American and Louisiana State Bar Associations, the National Association of Women Judges, and the National College of Probate Judges, she also served as President of the Sixth Judicial District Bar Association. She served as Secretary-Treasurer, Vice-President and President of the Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and was a member of the American Judicature Society, the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Criminal Justice.