On most mornings, rain or shine or snow, Sarah Doxey ran. For the wife, mother, and health care executive, running was a goal-oriented commitment that fused resilience with joy and connection.  

That same commitment shaped her two decades in Spokane’s health care system, where she rose through leadership roles with a mix of ambition, warmth, and service to others. 

On the morning of July 16, Sarah went for a run and was killed in a hit-and-run accident near the Manito Golf & Country Club on the South Hill. She was 48 years old.  

Those who knew and loved Sarah describe her as ambitious yet grounded in her desire to be constantly learning. She was goal-oriented but people-first and innately embodied the qualities of a servant leader with vision and warmth that made every organization and person better for having known her. 

At Community Health Association of Spokane, where she served as the chief operating officer, Sarah's leadership style left a mark that will be difficult to replicate, CEO Aaron Wilson says. Sarah's natural ability to unite teams and build consensus through hard challenges made her stand out in a field where such traits are rare, he says.  

“She had the ability to bring people together, to work through hard problems, and build consensus,” Wilson says. “It’s a skillset you don’t see often in this industry, or really other industries. I admired that a lot.”   

Sara Ambrose, one of Sarah’s best friends and CEO of Northern Idaho Advanced Care Hospital in Post Falls, says Sarah was a mentor who encouraged her in her career and inspired her to start running.   

“I don’t think that anyone could be a better leader than her,” says Ambrose, who was running alongside Sarah the morning of the accident. “It was just in her to step in and do what needs to be done. She just did it with such grace. I can’t see how anybody could ever do it better. She taught me so, so much, and her counsel will be very missed.”  

Erick Doxey, Sarah’s husband of 19 years, remembers her as someone committed to excellence, a deep learner, and someone who led by example in all areas of life.  

“She was such a force of good in everybody’s lives,” he says. “She was the smartest person that I knew, and I don’t think I learned more from any one person in my life than I did from her.”  

Erick and Sarah first met during high school in Hawaii. Their parents were both in the U.S. Air Force, and as a result, each of them had spent many years traveling the world during their formative years. Erick was 16 and Sarah was 15 when they met. They dated for a few months, and after Sarah moved away a year later, they continued to keep in touch, exchanging letters and visiting each other. They both married other people, but those marriages were short-lived. They started dating again long-distance and were married within a few months in December 2005.  

By then, Sarah had already launched her career in health care. After graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in art history in 1999, she stayed in the Seattle area for a short time, working at a hearing aid clinic in Tacoma, Washington, where she quickly rose to a managerial position.  

In 2000, Sarah moved to Spokane to be closer to her parents. Her father, Command Master Chief at Fairchild Air Force Base Nickey Clark, retired from the Air Force after 28 years of service but continued to work for the Department of Defense for nearly a decade. He died in 2018. Sarah's mother, Carolyn, is still with us, Erick says. 

In Spokane, Sarah would work for some of the region’s most well-known health care organizations and rise through the ranks, including Northwest OB-GYN, Cancer Care Northwest, and Spokane Eye Clinic. Before joining CHAS in September of 2023 as the organization’s vice president of operations, she spent nearly a decade with Providence Health Care, where she led the orthopedic clinic and later became the director of pediatrics.  

Sarah always joked that she could have been a doctor, Erick Doxey says. He believes she was right, but she enjoyed leading and managing processes, and more than anything, she had a passion for helping people.  

She also had a passion for learning and pursued several degrees, certificates, and training throughout her career, says Erick. In addition to participating in national groups such as the Medical Group Managers Association and interacting with other organizations across the country, Sarah also received a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Gonzaga University in 2008 and an MBA from Western Governors University in 2022. 

At CHAS, Sarah’s love of learning extended beyond her own development. She designed and led a nine-month leadership curriculum for staff across departments, offering monthly mentorship to her direct reports and others seeking to grow into leadership roles, Wilson says. The final session of that program was scheduled for the week she died.  

Wilson says, “We’re wrestling with the fact that she’s going to be someone who is really difficult to replace. Her experience, her connections in the Spokane health care community, and her innate abilities as a leader.”  

Sarah’s passion for helping others extends to her friends as well, says Ambrose. Not only did Sarah encourage Ambrose to pursue her current role, but she also acted as a mentor to Ambrose. 

On the morning of the accident, the two longtime friends were bouncing ideas off each other. Ambrose had recently assumed the role of CEO at Northern Idaho Advanced Care Hospital, and the two women were brainstorming ideas on how Ambrose could engage employees and build culture.  

“She was very good at those pieces,” says Ambrose. “Not just getting the job done, but how do you make the culture of a workplace a place where people want to work?”  

For example, Ambrose recalls how, when the two women worked at Providence, Sarah would organize Summer Olympic games in the orthopedic clinic.  

Sarah and Ambrose first met while working at Providence in what they both joked was a fated friendship. They both worked out at the same gym and would see each other, but never really made contact, Ambrose says. It wasn’t until they began to notice interesting coincidences in their lives, such as their children being in the same kindergarten class or being seated at the same table during a year-long leadership training course at Providence, that they finally connected.  

“Sarah and I always said that the universe really conspired to bring us together,” Ambrose says.  

At the time, Ambrose was the inpatient rehab manager for St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Medical Center, and Sarah managed the orthopedics clinic. While there was some alignment in their work, they built their friendship and bond over running, she says. Ambrose was awed by Sarah, who was six years her senior and a dedicated marathoner.  

“She was like, 'Yeah, you don’t have to be fast. Just do it,” Ambrose recalls. “So, I started running under her tutelage, and then we started running together.”   

Ambrose and Sarah built their friendship over miles and miles of covered distance, she says. During the pandemic in 2020, when most things were closed, including their gym, they met at 5 AM nearly every day, rain or snow, to train, she says.  

Sarah, who completed several marathons and even a 50K race in 2021, was fascinated by ultra marathoners, says Ambrose. She was drawn not so much by the physical aspect of it, but the mental strength required to push through such extraordinary feats.  

“Sarah was really ambitious; if you want to do something, you do it, and you make it happen,” Ambrose says. “She used to say she loved running because it was exercise with a goal. And because she’s so goal-oriented, it was something like, ‘Yay, I finished this.’”  

At home, Sarah was a devoted wife and mother to her two children, Clark, 14—named for her maiden name—and Etta, 12. Erick Doxey recalls that the thoughtfulness she brought to their family's life was the same care and thoughtfulness that defined her work.  

“She led by example,” he says. “The way she carried herself and the way she was with our kids, that’s what made her so remarkable.”  

A memorial service will be held for Sarah Doxey on Saturday, Aug, 23, at 2 p.m. at Fourth Memorial Church, in Spokane.