Joann C. Findlay M.D.

Joann C. Findlay, MD, passed away on March 8, 2026, after a lengthy illness. She was lovingly cared for by her devoted husband, Dr. Jim Sabiers. Born on October 27, 1943, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of Ruth and David Findlay and the younger sister of David. Following her mother’s divorce and subsequent marriage to Edward Meyers, the family moved to Texas, where her sisters Penny and Mary Jane Meyers were born, and later settled in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Joann graduated from Urbana High School in 1961, then attended Northwestern University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1965 with a major in chemistry and minors in math and art history.

Discouraged from pursuing medicine as a young woman, Joann spent ten years working as a chemist in the pharmaceutical industry in Wilmington, Delaware. She later followed her original calling, entering The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1977 as one of the few women and “older” students in her class. She graduated in 1981 and completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Case Western Reserve/University Hospitals of Cleveland. She then completed a fellowship in Endocrinology at the University of Pennsylvania from 1984 to 1986. Joann returned to Cleveland to practice at University Hospitals and serve on the faculty at CWRU. During her internship, she met Jim Sabiers; they married on July 26, 1986. The couple remained in Cleveland until 2003, when they moved to Dayton to continue their medical careers.

Joann practiced medicine with deep commitment and passion for quality patient care. She was an extraordinary person—deeply loyal as a friend and family member, and an extraordinarily knowledgeable sports fan. She enjoyed traveling and took great delight in the small dogs she raised. Throughout her adult life, she organized gatherings of her high school and college friends at her lake houses, regularly returned to Wilmington and Dewey Beach, Delaware, and remained closely involved in the lives of her sisters’ and Jim’s sisters’ families. She graciously hosted many holiday gatherings and was devoted to her mother and Jim’s parents.

Her lifelong passion for sports defined much of her identity. As a young girl, she became captivated by Willie Mays, beginning a lifelong devotion to the Giants. When she moved to Cleveland for medical training, she adopted the Cleveland Indians—later the Guardians—as her team. She was legendary for attending Opening Day in all weather, arriving with her sports bag, cap, mitt, radio, scorecard, and pen, and always staying until the last out. Even while seriously ill, on September 27, 2025, Joann attended the Guardians’ next-to-last regular-season game in a wheelchair with supplemental oxygen, accompanied by her husband Jim, lifelong friend Anne Unverzagt, and nephew Michael Klamo. She scored the game from her oxygen concentrator and witnessed a dramatic ninth-inning victory that clinched the division title, smiling with pure delight.

Joann is survived by her husband, Jim Sabiers; her sister Penny Dagley and nephews Matt and Chris; her sister Mary Jane Ossola and husband Ken, niece Ashley Simpson and husband Tyler, great-nephews Charlie and Henry, niece Maggie Hughes and husband Tommy, great-niece Molly, and great-nephew Jackson; her mother-in-law Ellen Sabiers; and her sister-in-law Beth Klamo and husband Steve, niece Amanda Proffitt and husband Brian, great-niece Clara, nephew Michael, and nephew James and wife Caitlin. She was predeceased by her mother Ruth, fathers David and Edward, brother David, brother-in-law Myron, and father-in-law Harry.