Melanie Claymon

Melanie Claymon began her volunteer work with Paws & Think in 2017. She sought out the Therapy Dog program after a first-hand experience at a hospital in St. Louis where her sister was battling cancer. She quickly became a P & T therapy team with her two dogs at the time, KaJe and Georgia, as her way to give back to others like her sister in our community. Since then, she has added three more therapy dogs to the organization. Melanie enjoys taking her Golden Retrievers Archie, Oakley, and Winston to schools, libraries, hospitals, and special events. There is nothing that makes her happier than seeing the smiles they bring to individual’s faces.

Melanie has been a dog lover since she was a child. She adored her family’s Dachsunds, but she always dreamed of having a big dog. Her husband of 25 years, Matthew, is thankfully in support of having big dogs. They got their first Golden Retriever, Parker, before they were even married. In addition to their four fur babies, they have three children (Austin, Lily, & Connor) in college.

Melanie grew up in St. Louis and attended Indiana University in Bloomington, where she received her BS in Accounting from the Kelley School of Business. She earned her CPA license shortly after graduating college. After working in the Public Accounting field for 6 years, she went into Corporate Accounting for 3 years before retiring. Her background in accounting will allow her to assist the Paws & Think Board with analyzing the financials and managing the budget. In her spare time, she enjoys going on walks, doing Pilates, creating content for her dog’s Social Media accounts (@the3retrievers), and most of all, spending time with family and friends at their lake house.