Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity

Three siblings grieved over the demolition of their childhood home — until they learned Habitat for Humanity had plans for the site.

BY TIFFANY CLEMENTS
St. Paul Pioneer Press

October 17, 2006

It was an uneventful drive through a torn-up St. Paul neighborhood in August that led Jim Dech to an overwhelming discovery.

The white two-story house that stood at Dale Street and Blair Avenue in Frogtown for nearly a century was gone. Amid numerous construction projects in the neighborhood, Dech's childhood home was razed last spring.

Shortly after Dech discovered his former home was gone, he called his two sisters who live in the metro area.

"We were all devastated," Marcia Berra, 68, said of visiting the St. Paul site her family left behind nearly 20 years ago. "I think all of us stood on that lot and cried."

But when she learned that Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity plans to finish five town houses on the site in April, Berra was pleased.

"I went back and discovered Habitat for Humanity stakes all over," she said. "You have no idea how relieved we were, knowing our home was in good hands."

Those good hands included her own. Her church — Mary, Mother of the Church in Burnsville — recently logged time performing unskilled labor on the site.

The three siblings, each traveling from their suburban homes, returned to the geographic heart of their childhoods last month. Dech came from Woodbury, Berra from Prior Lake and their sister, Clare Maturen, 76, from Forest Lake to observe and contribute to the Habitat for Humanity construction.

Dech quietly watched construction, occasionally posing questions about the project to workers on the site.

Contributing her writing talents, Maturen wrote a poem about the home, which she shared in an earlier meeting with family and Habitat planners.

Berra volunteered to help serve lunch to hungry workers from her congregation. After unloading coffeepots, pasta salads and cookies from her minivan, she approached a future Habitat homeowner working on site.

With a chocolate cookie in her outstretched hand, Berra introduced herself to Kassahun Bogale.

"I used to live here, right over there," she said pointing to the side of the property facing Blair.

Bogale, a nursing assistant, smiled and thanked Berra for the cookie. He said he is excited to move his family — wife Aster and sons Mickies, 5, and Nathanael, 2 — from their crowded apartment on Marion Street.

"I always dreamed of getting a Habitat house," he said.

Bogale said he feels owning a home will bring him security and stability.

"Even if I don't have any money, I will be able to be comfortable," he said.

Comfort and warmth permeate Berra's memories of her family's home there.

"I don't ever remember not being loved and always feeling fortunate to be part of such a loving and caring family," she said. "The door was always open, and everyone was always welcome."

For Berra, the food, fellowship and philanthropy she shared on the site kept alive longstanding family values.

"I'd like a nickel for every meal my mom fixed here for those who needed them," she said.

Berra's mother, Elizabeth "Bets" Dech, lived in the home until 1988, when she entered a nursing home. After their mother left the home, the family members sold it to Gary and Cathy Ribble.

The house was the Ribbles' first, and Cathy Ribble, 57, said she knew it was right for them.

"I picked it out years before we ever bought it," she said. "We never even looked at another house."

The Ribbles lived there for 17 years. When community developers made an offer to buy the property, she and her husband could not turn it down, Ribble said.

"They wanted to put up these town houses and they gave us a good deal," she said.

Ribble said it was difficult to see the home torn down but wishes the Habitat homeowners well.

"I hope they will be as happy there as we were," she said.

When the Dechs visited the site in August, they uprooted some of the peonies and phlox they found fighting through the weeds there and later transplanted the flowers into their own gardens. Maturen volunteered to help with the site's landscaping next spring.

According to Berra, this is a great task for her sister.

"She inherited Dad's green thumb," she said.

Habitat for Humanity coordinators suggested she perhaps try to plant the same types of flowers in the yard of the new homes.

Berra said the plants would be a fitting tribute to her father.

"My dad loved flower gardens, and our yard always looked beautiful," she said.

Tiffany Clements can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 651-228-2943.