Chef to chaplain: 'I'm feeding people in a different way'

A spiritual journey led Leslie Lightner to a new career path, one that she has designated to last well beyond her lifetime, with a planned gift through her life insurance policy.

When you ask Leslie Lightner about the past five years as chaplain; first at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children's Hospital, then at Providence St. Luke's Rehabilitation Medical Center, she will tell you it is both her highest calling and most rewarding career. She spends her days meeting patients, families and caregivers, who are on a journey to independence or supporting a patient's journey following a life-altering event.

As a cancer survivor, Leslie knows how hard it can be to find yourself again. Now in remission from stage IV cancer, she knows God led her to St. Luke's for a reason.

"I've walked just a little bit in their shoes. I wish I had a chaplain when I was rehabilitating during that painful year of treatment and recovery," she said. "I strive to be that presence for our patients."

To continue this calling beyond her lifetime, Leslie is leaving her life insurance policy to support the Area of Greatest Need fund for St. Luke's. She made regular contributions since starting her career at Providence, but after witnessing a family purchase lifesaving equipment in a loved one's honor for St. Luke's, she decided to take her giving to the next level. "The sky is the limit for me. I know what it's like to feel you might not have much time, so there's nothing I wouldn't give," she said.

It was a winding path that led Leslie to St. Luke's. A few years ago, she was an executive chef with two successful culinary businesses in Seattle. She started to feel a shift from her culinary passion toward something entirely different and a message from within became quite clear: "Hurry, you don't have much time."

Leslie continued exploring her life's purpose while attending spiritual retreats. A hospice doctor and friend at one of those retreats asked if she'd ever considered being a chaplain. Months later, she was enrolled in graduate school to become an ordained Interfaith Minister. She was then accepted into the Clinical Pastoral Education Program (Residency) at Providence Sacred Heart for a year. Like most people, that year (2020) turned out much different than she imagined. After her first 6 months of residency in 2019, heightened COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 pulled Spiritual Care residents out of the hospital.

During this time, Leslie counseled families of patients over the phone-providing spiritual care to devastated families unable to visit their critically ill loved ones. In person, she provided comfort and support for her host here in Spokane, who had recently lost her husband to cancer, and had a daughter who was struggling to survive yet another form of cancer. "Wherever God led me, I followed," she said.

Now Leslie provides spiritual care for patients, loved ones and caregivers at St. Luke's as well as outpatient clinics. She starts her days by visualizing the people who will enter her life and how she can best walk alongside them because she believes every encounter is sacred.

"Everything I have done and experienced in my life has informed this work. Everything."

Leslie hopes her planned gift will continue this life's calling, touching all who need it the most.