Margaret “Margi” Dechenne

September 30, 1945 – December 29, 2025

One of Portland’s most ardent advocates for unhoused people, Margaret “Margi” Dechenne, passed away peacefully on December 29, 2025. She was born on September 30, 1945, in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she was also raised. Margi was preceded in death by her parents, Ted and Grace Kubesh.

Margi was married for 47 years to her beloved husband, Tom Dechenne, whom she met when they worked together at Cenex, a farm cooperative in Minnesota. Together they moved from St. Paul to St. John, Washington, and later made the move to their permanent home in Portland, Oregon, in 1979.

Margi devoted her life to helping others, especially unhoused children and women. She had a long and deeply respected career in social services, working with United Way and then the Salvation Army’s Greenhouse, a program to help homeless children, which she helped start from its inception alongside former Congresswoman Edith Green. For 20 years Margi led Greenhouse as its executive director, the crowning achievement of her career. The program garnered national attention and inspired many other programs to assist homeless children.

When Greenhouse lost its funding and closed its doors, Margi stayed in touch with several of the young people she had worked with, many of whom successfully transitioned off the streets.

Margi later worked at Elizabeth House, a group home supporting teen mothers. After Elizabeth House, Margi continued her remarkable career at Catholic Charities’ Housing Transitions Program, where she helped unhoused women find stable housing. Among her many accomplishments at HTP, Margi pioneered Portland’s Kenton Women’s Village, the city’s first tiny home community for the unhoused. She retired from Catholic Charities in 2020.

Margi was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and friend. Her home was always open to a friend in need, and she often invited the Jesuit volunteers from Catholic Charities to stay with her after they finished their year of service. As long as they rooted for her beloved Seattle Mariners (she never missed an opening day), they could stay with her and Tom as long as they wanted.

She is survived by her husband, Tom, and her five children: Nick Dechenne, Andrea Dechenne Bergman (Eric), Danielle Dechenne Engles (Jeff), Molly Dechenne (Stephen), and Sam Dechenne (Kay). She is also survived by her treasured grandchildren: Gabrielle, Nina, Henry, Lakshmi, Han, and Didi. She was the silly, fun-loving “G’ma” with a sparkle in her eye. She brought laughter and radical love and acceptance to all who knew her.

Margi was truly unique — funny, smart, and always fully present. In addition to being a gifted writer and storyteller, she learned to make soap, sew quilts, bake to perfection (those pies!), and skydive. She was of course a wonderful mother—not only to her own children, but also to the many others who needed her loving, steady presence.

By embracing and loving the many homeless children and women she worked with over the years, she showed a traumatized and marginalized group of people that there are people who care about them and won’t give up on them.

She will be terribly missed by her family, including her sister, Dianne Hoffman, and her many cherished nieces and nephews, and by the countless people whose lives she touched.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to the Catholic Charities Housing Transitions Program.

Housing Transitions – Catholic Charities of Oregon