Meet the Board

The following are your library board members: Crisanne Thompson, Melissa Donham, Melinda Slaughter, Barb Gomez, Mary Spoon, Chelsie Hrabre, and Ashley Lande. 

Crisanne Thompson moved around a lot growing up and moved to Leon in 2008, where she settled, and it is the longest she has ever lived in one place. She is a 1st-grade teacher and knows that community and reading help children succeed. She would like the library to be a place for kids and adults to get books and other literacy activities. Crisanne doesn't believe that the sole responsibility falls on our local schools. She hopes to build a community that offers services to its citizens and will help our community grow. 

Melinda is a mom of 2 adult children and is blessed with four grandchildren. She has lived in Derby, Wichita, and moved to Leon 8 years ago. Her background is in early childhood education, and storytelling is one of her passions. Melinda has dreamed of having a functioning library open and inviting to all citizens in Leon with computers, internet, and available printers. Her passion is for the library to have preschool storytime, summer reading programs, and family craft nights. She looks forward to seeing another way for our little community to grow and connect. 

Ashley is an artist, writer, and mother of three whose writing has been featured in various magazines and a book of essays. Her first book, a memoir, is slated to be published by Lexham Press in October 2024, and her artwork has been shown in New York, Los Angeles, London, and Melbourne. She and her husband are initially from Kansas City, Missouri, but a job transfer brought them to a small town in Kansas eight years ago. They chose Leon for its character and have been delighted to see it grow and develop. A lifelong reader and lover of books, Ashley wants to know the library to cultivate and refine a robust and diverse collection of fiction and non-fiction. She advocates classic literature and beautiful writing and hopes to instill a love for those same things in library patrons. Additionally, she would love to see a thriving children's program where children learn to cherish great stories and beautifully constructed language from an early age. She believes flourishing libraries are essential for flourishing communities!