President
Frances Lechner is one of the founding members of the Weaver Mountains Health Initiative in 2019 and has served as President since March 2022. She brings a variety of community involvement to the Yarnell region, including work such as development of the WMHI strategic plan, coordinating events, filing documents for incorporating and becoming a 501c3 organization. She is a “newbie” to Yarnell, having moved here in 2007, while continuing to work in the Valley for another five years.
Her professional background includes teaching junior high students and 27 years with the United Dairymen of Arizona. She is an alumni of Project CENTRL, the premier leadership program for rural and agricultural communities in Arizona. Frances enjoys travel, dabbles in photography and collage art, and relishes garage sale and thrift store shopping. She and her husband Emad Mohit live in Yarnell with their cat, Meshki.
Frances Lechner, President
Treasurer
The Treasurer of the Board of Directors is JerrieLea Hopf who lives at North Ranch in Congress. Ms. Hopf was born and raised on a dairy and chicken farm in South Dakota. The day after they married, the Hopf family moved to Chicago.
JerrieLea served in all the offices of the Jayshees. Later, she served as a Board member and President of the Fountaindale Public Library District for 13 years. She also served as Clerk of the 1st Presbyterian Church of DuPage and helped Habitat for Humanity build houses.
After moving into North Ranch, JerrieLea has served 6 years as Clerk at the Yarnell Community Presbyterian Church, has been a liaison between North Ranch and the Yarnell Regional Community Center, and worked in the Community Garden. She is currently the Co-Chair of the Exhibitors of the Health and Wellness EXPO23 and is looking forward to the next phases of the Health Initiative.
JerrieLee Hopf, Treasurer
Board Secretary
Bethany Strickland moved to Peeples Valley in 2018 after working on the Navajo Reservation and a career as a travel nurse. Peeples Valley is home and she enjoys the country life. She and her husband have dogs, cats, and chickens. They enjoy making a difference in the community as much as they can.
Bethany currently works as the school nurse at Model Creek and Congress Elementary schools.
Bethany Strickland, Board Secretary