Farewell to mentor and friend, Rich Hadley.

It was 2007. A year after Jeremy and I had gotten married. We moved to Spokane on more than a whim… but less than solid ground. Jeremy had a job at a small private school but I was struggling to find leads and make connections. Back then…and maybe still…Spokane was notoriously difficult to break into.

My introduction to Rich Hadley came by way of the very first person who gave me a meeting in Spokane – Susan Ashe. After months of sending emails and applying to jobs – she invited me to her office at City Hall to meet and talk about her work. After we spent some time together that day Susan recommended that I talk to Rich Hadley at Greater Spokane Incorporated. “They’re looking for someone,” she said.

And so…I reached out. And Rich (or maybe it was Angela? Or Amy?) got back to me. The rest, as they say, is history.

I spent two years at GSI working in public policy. I think this period of time gave me the opportunity to truly appreciate the ways we can seek to understand each other in a more meaningful way. Especially when you consider that before coming to Spokane I had been working for a liberal elected official in King County. Working for the leading business voice in Spokane was an education to say the least.

I will never forget the time that a proposal to re-name a street was being floated by local elected officials. In my mind, I thought it was a no-brainer. An easy thing for the Chamber to support. I told Rich as much. He did not correct me or tell me I was wrong, he simply asked me to think about the way that the proposal would impact every business on the street in question. He reminded me that there was signage, stationary and many administrative changes for every single business entity. In short – even worthwhile changes can be costly. He taught me that we don’t need to oppose change – we just need to think about the way that changes will impact everyone along the way.

As a young person eager to please and quick to communicate, I was what you might call an “over-emailer.” Rich had a gift of passing along wisdom and not correction – he told me gently that sometimes it made more of an impact to get up and walk to someone’s office to ask a quick question or pass along a small item of interest versus emailing. Indeed, Mr. Hadley. Thank you for that advice.

I was often in rooms too big for me at the time. That is to say, I supported committees and discussions around big issues with people much more senior than myself. I remember one such meeting when a particular person attended. This person didn’t say a lot during the meeting but made several essential points. Afterwards, Rich praised them to the group of staff remaining in the room. “Still waters run deep,” he said. Again, thank you for this wisdom.

When I left GSI, it was to work for US Senator Patty Murray as her Eastern Washington Director. Senator Murray hired me because I shared some of her convictions, but also because I had studied under Rich Hadley’s guidance and had learned from him what is a helpful characteristic in life and in politics: nuance. Also known as the art of seeing the value of different perspectives.

Life and career drew my family west of the mountains for some time after this. A decade to be exact. Rich and I spoke rarely during that time. Every couple of years. Once when he asked me to come back for his retirement party – I did not. This is my only regret when it comes to Rich. I wish I had taken the trip back to Spokane to celebrate him. We spoke a few other times as I moved jobs and asked him to speak on my behalf as a reference.

But…in 2021…life brought Rich and I back together in a truly meaningful way when Jeremy and I moved our family back to Spokane for good. I got a note right away from Rich telling me that, “a little birdie had told him I was back in town.” I smiled at the note and the little birdie. Spokane was again showing me the power of relationships. We met sometime in the fall of 2021 at a Starbucks. I can’t remember what I drank but I remember that we were both early and that he bought a piece of banana bread and insisted that we split it. We talked about life. He reminded me that he had grown up on a dairy farm. We talked about a lot of things. I wasn’t working at the time but…I was itching (metaphorically of course ). Picking my head up. Looking around. Trying to decide what might be next for me. He must have sensed this despite me leaving it unsaid. He asked me directly, “What do you want to do next? I still have lots of connections in town.” I smiled. I couldn’t really answer that. I wasn’t sure. So, I admitted as much. “I don’t know. I just know it has to be something purpose-driven.” To which he answered my smile with one of his own. “Well, everything has purpose – it just might not be one you agree with!” Touché.

And then he gifted me a word. The word was SERENDIPITY. He told me to look for it as I was considering what was next in my career. He thought that I would know the right opportunity when I saw it.

He was right. Months later, serendipity came knocking and Rich was right there cheering for me when it came. When I accepted a job at LaunchNW, I had a special rock made with the word, “Serendipity,” engraved on it. I sent it off to him with a note thanking him for this and many other times that he had impacted my life.

Rich was too young when he passed. He left small grandchildren and a family who will miss him terribly. But I also think he might have known that time was short. I found a quote from an old article dated around the time of his retirement ten years ago, "I love my job. I'm in good health. I could stay another couple years. But I could also hike in Grand Teton, I could camp with [my wife] in the Grand Canyon, we could do a monthlong trip down the California coast."

I am so glad Rich left his work when he did. I am glad that he spent his last years doing the things that matter most. I am just one of many (many!) people who are likely sifting through memories and sharing stories of his impact. I look forward to reading all of them.

Rest in peace, Rich. Thank you for changing my life.

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Spokesman article: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/mar/20/rich-hadley-76-championed-for-university-district-/