Author, nursing advocate and Ridpath visionary Janet Mann killed in hit-and-run in downtown Spokane

Janet Mann was probably having a normal but fantastic day, doing things she loved, before she was struck and killed by a driver in downtown Spokane on Tuesday.

The 78-year-old author and former director of a local foster parent program was biking 20 miles, joining her meditation group and on her way to meet her grandson for lunch, said Genevieve Mann Morris, one of Mann’s daughters.

Mann Morris, a professor at Gonzaga University School of Law, said her mother was walking in a crosswalk at the corner of Browne Street and Main Avenue when she was struck by a motorist and fled. Mann was taken to the hospital and died of her injuries, police said.

Mann Morris said she and her family are angry about the fatal hit-and-run crash, but her mother had compassion for everyone, and that likely included the driver.

“She wasn’t the least bit judgmental,” she said. “She just had a deep feeling that everyone has their own story and their own path, and she had great compassion. I can’t remember a single time she said a negative word to anyone.”

Spokane police spokeswoman Julie Humphreys said no arrests have been made yet and police are reviewing evidence, including surveillance video.

“Unfortunately, this person ruined our lives and their own by leaving – which may have been a mistake,” said Mann Morris.

Mann and her husband, Paul Mann, were two of the principal owners who revitalized the Ridpath Club Apartments, 515 W. Sprague Ave. The married couple lived on the top floor of the former downtown hotel for 55 years.

They would have celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary later this month. They have three children, including husband Morris, and four grandchildren.

Mann Morris said her mother loved living downtown. Mann was an “incredibly active person” who rode her bike 20 miles a day, did yoga, meditated and walked everywhere.

“They feel very connected to the community,” she said of her parents. “This is their home. They know the tenants by name. They talk to each other. They host Thanksgiving dinner in the building.”

The Mann couple founded the nonprofit Children’s Ark in 1995 and ran it until 2009, Mann Morris said.

In a 2021 TEDx talk about Mann’s experiences and lessons learned from foster care, Mann said she and her husband bought a historic home in Browne’s Addition, renovated it and moved into it, where they operated the Ark.

The Spokane-based nonprofit was a center for assessment and intervention services for at-risk parents and children.

A 1996 Spokesman-Review article stated that Children’s Ark was the only opportunity for foster children in Spokane to stay with their mothers in a supervised environment.

“We had to do for the parents what we wanted them to do for their children. If we wanted to help the children, we had to help the parents. And the way to help the parents was to build a real relationship with them,” Mann said during the talk. “As it turned out, the relationships themselves became the catalyst for change.”

Mann Morris said the foster children, their parents and the Mann couple lived in the house. Eventually, the nonprofit changed operations so the parents came to the house during the day but did not live there.

“The court system is not the right place to solve family problems because you either have to win or lose,” Mann told The Spokesman-Review of the show.

The couple cared for over 120 foster children during their time as foster parents, Mann said in the TEDx talk.

“She was just someone who cared deeply about the children of this community,” said Mann Morris.

Mann and Molly Kretchmar-Hendricks, a professor of developmental psychology at Gonzaga University, co-authored the book “Creating Compassionate Foster Care: Lessons of Hope for Children and Families in Crisis” in 2017.

The book draws on real foster care situations and research on child attachment to help foster parents and professionals better respond to the complex needs of children and parents in crisis situations.

In 2017, Mann told the story of a young girl who began misbehaving around Christmastime after being adopted from foster care. Eventually, her adoptive parents discovered that she associated this time of year with the pain of past moves to new homes.

“She subconsciously associated holidays with loss,” she said. “We have to keep these things in mind in foster care – how does a child experience something?”

Mann Morris said her mother was standing at the corner of Main and Browne Tuesday afternoon waiting to cross the street. She said her mother, who had the pedestrian signal, stepped into the crosswalk and the driver, who was about to turn, struck her.

“She wouldn’t even be mad at that person,” said Mann Morris, noting her mother’s open-minded attitude.

Police Lt. Nate Spiering said the gray or champagne colored Chevrolet Silverado drove away. The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office said Mann died of blunt force trauma and ruled the death an accident.

“She was all about relationships,” said Mann Morris. “She touched so many people in Spokane and beyond.”