Margaret Thoreau, Activist and Shelter Co-Founder, Dies

Margaret A. Thoreau, an activist in several South County charities, died Saturday in her Irvine home. She was 65.

Mrs. Thoreau was perhaps best known as co-founder of Human Options, a South County shelter for battered women and their children.

“This was her dream,” said Vivian Clecak, a Human Options director, in a letter to the board. “She was very instrumental in bringing this program into fruition.”

Mrs. Thoreau, a native of Portland, Ore., and a graduate of Stanford University, moved with her family to Laguna Beach in 1974 from San Francisco.

While serving as chairman of the South Orange County Mental Health Advisory Board in 1975, she began educating people about the idea of Human Options, Clecak said.

“Human Options incorporated in 1979, and until 1981 Margaret single-handedly kept the idea going,” Clecak said. The shelter opened its doors in October, 1982.

“She was utterly dedicated, honest, and a person of total integrity,” Clecak said. “Before there was a shelter, Margaret would have homeless people living out of her home.”

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley remembered Mrs. Thoreau as a tireless promoter of projects she believed in.

“I saw her as a special individual, a person who was certainly a community activist in areas of human interest,” Riley said.

Through her work on the mental health advisory board, Mrs. Thoreau became instrumental in the formation of several other organizations in the South County, including the South Orange County Community Detoxification Center in Dana Point, the Human Needs Council of Laguna Beach and the South Orange County Child Abuse Council. Mrs. Thoreau also volunteered her time for several years at the YMCA Youth Employment Office at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Laguna Beach.

In her honor, the Margaret Thoreau Children’s Fund for Human Options has been established.

Mrs. Thoreau is survived by her husband, H.D. Thoreau of Irvine; two brothers, Jack and Kenneth Anderson, both of Portland, three children and two grandchildren.

Memorial services will be at noon Aug. 16 at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Laguna Beach. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Friendship Shelter, 1335 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach.