MEET THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Beverly Osborne (President) - Besides her love of books, Bev brings some deeply repressed organizational skills and a desire to help the library grow. She is currently in her sixth year as President and previously served as the Secretary of the Board.
Bev can’t remember a time when she wasn’t reading and didn’t love books and learning, so it seemed a natural progression when she joined the Board of Trustees for Fort Hunter Free Library in 2012. She often jokes that her personal motto is “Read, Eat, and Sleep”.
Particularly due to living in a rural community like the Town of Florida, Bev believes that promoting literacy, education, and the value of libraries is essential for the community. She wants the library to be a place where people know they are always welcome, and can get assistance in more areas than just books!
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Ava Douglass (Vice-President) – Ava has been on the Board since 2015 and previously served as Treasurer. She worked as the Chief Financial Officer for Broome-Tioga ARC (ACHIEVE) in Binghamton until she retired in 2010. Ava grew up in the Town of Florida so after returning "home", she was thrilled to discover that the Fort Hunter Free Library was only a little over a mile from her house. As someone who always felt life stress melt away in a library, this was a very pleasant surprise!
In addition to its rural location, Ava loves the Library for its small and intimate nature even though access to the entire MVLS collection is available. She would like to expand the Library’s services and enjoys seeing the Children’s Summer Reading Program become a premier activity for kids in the area. She would also like to increase the number of individuals coming in and increase visibility within our rural area. She wants the Fort Hunter Free Library to be the “go-to” place in the Town of Florida for research, learning, socialization and recreational activities.
Kara Travis (Treasurer) - A lifelong bookworm, Kara has always rooted herself to her community by exploring and supporting the local library. Whether it's serving as a board member, helping to raise money, or volunteering at used bookstores and circulation desks, Kara feels libraries are the heart of small-town life and a hub for encouraging literacy and socialization for all ages. One of Kara's favorite memories growing up in Lake Placid, NY was going to the library after school to do homework overlooking scenic Mirror Lake. As Kara entered college, she connected with Literacy Volunteers, mainly tutoring adults in English As A Second Language and training other tutors.
Kara and her husband are relatively new residents of the Town of Florida. She loves spending time on her porch with a good book, watching her Labradors swim in their pond. The rest of the week, Kara serves as President/CEO of Mountain Valley Hospice, a not-for-profit that serves Fulton, Montgomery, Saratoga, and Hamilton counties and also has a private, 8-bed hospice home in Gloversville.
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Beth Osborne (Secretary) - Beth has been a member of the Board since 2018 and has been the Secretary for the Board almost from the beginning. A lifelong resident of Tribes Hill, Beth loves reading and enjoys nothing more than spending hours in bookstores, perusing the shelves, finding her favorite authors, and discovering new ones.
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Beth’s family are all avid readers who can often all be found sitting together reading. She joined the library to help promote its growth as she recognizes the importance of libraries to all communities, large and small.
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Stacey DeLaney - Ever since Stacey was a small child, she has had a passion for reading. One in which she passed along to her children and with great expectations will be passed along to her grandsons! This passion was also evident in her career as a teacher of the Deaf and an administrator, ensuring all her students were always exposed to and had access to literacy. Now, writing children’s books about her rescue dog LayLa, she can encourage the love for reading from a unique angle! As a FHFL trustee, her goal is to continue to share her love of reading and help the gem that FHFL is, shine, through helping in any way she can! When Stacey is not working (currently she is teaching American Sign
Language at LaSalle Institute) she enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, quilting, golfing, biking, and other various adventures with her husband Dave and their beloved canine, LayLa!
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Linda Dufel retired from the State of New York in October, 2021 and spends time helping with her grandchildren and crocheting.
Linda feels reading is the foundation of all learning. She always read to her children and grandchildren from infants on. Before starting at the State of New York, Linda was a stay at home mom, who worked at the family business and ran the Library Summer Reading Program for a few years.
Linda's children often visited the Library at Fort Hunter especially for their school research projects.
She hopes by being a part of the Library board, she can contribute to its continued growth.
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Glenda Eager - Glenda joined the board in 2022 and can never remember a time that the library hasn’t provided a joyous feeling with every visit. She also is a fairly new resident to our community and enjoys exploring and getting to know the area.
Glenda spent her career in banking, retiring from Bank of America as a VP in the Commercial Construction industry. From there, on to PA for several years as office manager for a local trash company, eventually heading to New York to become closer to family and more importantly, caring for grandchildren, her mother and mother-in-law, while working at the Animal Protective Foundation.
She hopes she can help provide assistance and support as our libraries are valuable locations for local news and information. In addition, by exposing our children to all a library can offer this will encourage a good lifelong foundation for their education.
She loves getting to know everyone she meets and making new connections. Most days you can find her enjoying her chickens, walking with her dog Piper and exploring by reading the next great story.
Sue Nacco – Sue has been a member of the board since 2015. She retired from the State of New York in 2012 and now spends time taking care of her grandchildren.
Sue feels it is very important for children to be good readers and always encouraged her own children to read, even during their summer vacation. She would take them to the Library when it was located in Fort Hunter as she wanted to instill the love of reading on them at an early age.
Sue appreciates being a part of the Library board as she is able to give back to the community by volunteering her time there. She would like to see the Library continue to grow its community participation and become more visible. Sue was instrumental in bringing the first Line Dancing event to the Library and given its success, she was able to reach many new individuals, introducing them to the Fort Hunter Free Library in a unique and fun way.
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Barbara Lampkin, Trustee Emeritus – Barb dedicated 50 years of service on the board before transitioning to Trustee Emeritus status. Her journey with the Library began in the old Fort Hunter School. Having served in all officer roles, including the immediate Past President, Barb's extensive contributions are marked by her wealth of experience and commitment. Trustee Emeritus is an honorary title granted to individuals who have concluded their term as trustees, symbolizing recognition and appreciation for their substantial dedication and contributions during their tenure.
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