Drowning Victim Identified as Sammamish Woman

The King County Medical Examiner's Office has confirmed that 66-year-old Barbara Mitchell of Sammamish near her home.

Mitchell was the Senior Vice President, Human Resources & Marketing, of Valley Medical Center in Renton. She drowned Aug. 8 in small Rainbow Lake near her home, where she had gone to relax during a walk.

Valley Medical Center released a statement expressing sorrow at her loss:

 is mourning the loss of Barbara Mitchell, Senior Vice President, Human Resources & Marketing. Barbara was known for her vivacious spirit and love for her family and career. A Celebration of Life will be held on Wednesday, August 29 at 2pm in the Healing Garden at Valley Medical Center.

Barbara spent 35 years in corporate business management, with a primary emphasis and focus on human resource leadership, serving in a spectrum of industries spanning healthcare, broadcasting, and insurance in both union and non-union, for profit and not for profit, private sector and public sector arenas. Barbara worked at Valley Medical Center since 1999, initially as Director of Human Resources, promoted to Vice President of Human Resources, and then as Senior VP Human Resources and Marketing. Consistent with her prior work as Vice President Human Resources and Corporate Services for KIRO, Inc., and her consulting work throughout the Puget Sound, she was focused on strengthening workforces through management development, effective labor relations, strategic organizational development, and the fostering of energized, productive, responsive teams that readily achieved corporate goals.

Under her leadership, Barbara garnered “Best Workplace” recognition for VMC for ten consecutive years, saluting a high level of excellence in staff training and involvement, benefit enhancement and recruitment in a competitive industry. CEO of Valley Medical Center, Rich Roodman states, “Barbara has always been an incredibly valuable member of Valley’s management team. She was smart, insightful, compassionate and a friend, and will be missed by so many on both a professional and personal level.”

Barbara was acknowledged throughout her career as a person with exceptional mentoring and coaching skills. She designed effective career ladder programs and developed systems to identify potential talent through non-traditional methods, resulting in strong and ethnically diverse candidates for promotion.  Her ability to build trust throughout all levels of the corporate environment enabled the implementation of progressive programs that have become best practice. 

Barbara grew up in Alaska, attended Marylhurst University, served as Chairman of the Board for First Choice Health, and was active in fundraising with American Cancer Society, Washington Women in Need and Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Kirkland. She also participated in community involvement with Renton Community Foundation, Rotary International, Renton Technical College, various Chambers of Commerce and community organizations.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 29 at 2 p.m. in the Healing Garden at Valley Medical Center.