Margi Crain Brown

Margi Crain Brown was raised in Lebanon, Oregon in the mid-Willamette Valley. Her family moved to Laguna Beach, CA just before she started high school. She graduated from Laguna Beach High School, before coming back to the Northwest to attend Lewis & Clark College. She was privileged to be part of the first wave of overseas groups in the fall of 1962 and studied in Peru with Dr. Hammar. She graduated from L&C with a BA in Elementary Education.

Marrying immediately after graduation she and her husband, Don, settled in the Bay Area, where she taught second grade for two years in Mountain View, CA. She then moved on to work for Sunset Magazine in their advertising department. After their two daughters were born, the family moved to Southwest Portland to be near her parents. Margi made contact with Dr. Hammar and became involved in the Host Family Program during the era of L&C’s Language Institute. Her family was privileged to host students from Iran and Thailand during the 70’s.

Margi developed an interest in Christian education and went on the get a Master of Arts in Values degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary. She eventually went to work as an Administrative Assistant for the Presbytery of the Cascades, first working for the Consultant for Education and Witness before working for the Executive, and later the Stated Clerk. She served the Presbytery for 25 years before retiring in 2008.

Margi never lost her interest in education and served during the 80’s on the Desegregation Monitoring Advisory Committee of the Portland Public Schools. She is currently serving as chair of the Education Study Group of the platform committee for the Multnomah County Democratic Party.

When Margi attended Lewis & Clark she did not realize that her family had a historical connection to Palatine Hill. Her Kellogg great and great-great-grandparents are buried in the Greenwood Hills Cemetery on the corner of SW Palatine Hill and Boones Ferry Roads. She is currently serving as secretary to the board of the cemetery.