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Laverne
colleagues, she says. Then he stepped back,
threw the money in the air, and told the
tellers to call the police.
“I think he wanted a place to stay,” she
says.
Teletha Benjamin says she will miss
Hampton taking her to open her safe deposit
branch, Benjamin moved all her accounts
there too.
“I appreciate walking into a branch where
people know my name. I feel I get excellent
service there, and a lot of that is because of
Laverne,” Benjamin said. She’s a role
model for all the staff at the branch.”
Over the years, Benjamin
says, Hampton helped her dis-
cover new products, corrected
any errors and was always
willing to help.
“Laverne has always been a
stable steady person. Her
presence inspires confidence.
She makes you feel at ease
and welcome, which is not
always the case for people in
customer service.”
Benjamin plans to arrange a celebration
lunch with Hampton, after her last day, Oct.
15. “I’m happy for her that she’s about to
retire,” she says. “She deserves a break.”
Hampton says Wells Fargo is a good com-
pany that cares about its customers, and has
‘I appreciate walking into a
branch where people know
my name ... and a lot of that
is because of Laverne’
box. Benjamin knew Hampton a little,
even before she first opened her bank
account in 1958. Later she moved to the
Broadway branch of First Interstate, which
merged with Wells Fargo in 1996. And
when Hampton moved to the Walnut Park
HELEN SILVIS PHOTO
continued from page 2
The Walnut Park Wells Fargo team celebrated Laverne Hampton’s retirement in
style. At rear from left, Quincy Robinson, Julie Louchbaum, Chanell Mayes,
James Tang, Haidee Montejo-Degoma; sitting from left, Imelda Manalo,
Ronika Sundar, Laverne Hampton, Robin Wisner Sr.; in front from left, Mariam
Gultei and Luana Slacka.
given her a good career. But she’s excited to
be making plans to visit her son and two
grandchildren in Arizona, and to see a little
more of her other son in Beaverton. With
landscaping her garden and organizing her
home, and checking off her list of places to
visit, she thinks she’ll be quite busy enough.
“I’d love to spend some time near the
water at Seaside and Sandy,” she says. “And
I’m going to see some of what Portland has
to offer. The Pittock Mansion, the Columbia
River Gorge, the Japanese Garden: there are
so many sights I’ve never seen. “
“It was very hard to be on any kind of
team,” she says. “One team I was on, they
would schedule all the team meetings when
I was in class. You would go to the profes-
sor and he would say, ‘Go work it out with
your team.’ I had to prove myself a lot more
than a lot of people had to.”
Feeling the need to express her creativity,
she started Soapbox Theory in 2001. It start-
ed as a hobby, where she made greeting
cards for friends and family.
Her work showcased positive images of
steel mill or a foundry. Some place just
gray,” says Kayin.
She decided to go back to school for
industrial design and began attending the
Art Institute of Portland.
As her business got more serious, she got
restless.
“By second term, I said forget it. I know
all of this,” says Kayin. “I wasn’t going to
pay to learn what I’m already doing in busi-
ness.”
Meanwhile, Cleo was working in ware-
houses and as an electrician to build seed
money for a printing business. He had
moved back to Portland in 2003 and was
using his free time to print in his basement
and peddle shirts on the street, a craft he
honed at 16.
“When you start printing, you’re selling t-
shirts to friends and family,” he says.
“You’re looking for churches and festivals.
Looking for civic and community groups.
From there, whenever big events come into
town, then you can sell on the streets. Any-
thing hits the news, you take your message,
put it on a t-shirt. Put it on the street.”
By 2006, he had the seed money, found a
location on Williams Ave., and opened
Screw Loose Studio.
Little did he know, he was about to meet
his future wife and add a new dimension to
his business.
The couple met that year and within six
months, began working together.
Creatives
continued from page 3
everything from business cards with Black
superheroes, to plates featuring smiling
Black children of all shades, to “Brobots.”
“One of my taglines is ‘Bold. Creative.
You,’ says Kayin. “A lot of people ask me
what Soapbox Theory means. Everyone,
given the forum, has something to express.
“There aren’t a lot of products out there
that represent Black, African American peo-
ple with any kind of positivity behind it or
even just, sometimes even neutral is nega-
tive. There’s no positivity. There’s no just,
‘This is who I am. This is me,’ without hav-
ing to align with something else. Without
having to align with sports, with a team,
with music, with some other form of other
identity.”
When Cleo opened the shop in 2006, the
couple had yet to meet. Fittingly, they regis-
tered their businesses only a month apart.
They were on different paths to the same
destination, but the common thread was a
larger vision and resistance to conventional
ways of getting there.
Cleo grew up wanting to be an inventor.
The closest thing he knew was his uncle, an
architectural engineer at Arizona State Uni-
versity, who introduced him to t-shirt
printing at a young age.
Despite being selected for the Talented
and Gifted program in kindergarten, he was
well behind his peers in math and reading.
When he got to Cleveland High School,
he was placed in a math class for kids with
learning disabilities. He forced himself to
do a chapter’s worth of homework every
night to get on track for a college architec-
ture program.
From there, he started carving out a few
hours every day to lock himself in his room,
put on slacks, a dress shirt and tie, and work
on designs. By senior year, he only went to
school on Fridays to turn in homework and
spent the rest of his time downtown, hang-
ing around Portland State University and
going to art museums.
He graduated and went to University of
Oregon for architecture. After two years he
went down to California where he went
They were on different paths to the same
destination, but the common thread was a
larger vision and resistance to conventional
ways of getting there
back and forth between school and jobs in
his field, studying product design along the
way.
Around the time Cleo began college,
Kayin discovered her love for engineering
in middle school.
She took part in the Math Science Engi-
neering Achievement program, graduated
from Benson and went to the University of
Pittsburgh for mechanical engineering.
There were only three Black students, out
of 180 total, admitted into the engineering
program at Pitt as freshmen. Kayin was one
of two women and the only Black student in
her 20 person class.
Black children.
“I wanted people of color to relate to what
I was drawing,” says Kayin. “It’s something
you can identify with. ‘I remember when
we used to play like that or my cousin wears
his hair like that.’
“It’s not aggressive. It’s empowering
without specifically being Black power.”
After two years, she came back to Port-
land and transferred to PSU, where she
developed an interest in product design.
She graduated in 2005 but no available
jobs fed her creative urges.
“There was one that I could’ve gotten but
I didn’t want to work as an engineer in a
Read the rest of this story online at
www.theskanner.com
Changes
continued from page 1
the seat left by Siegel, who took a job at Metro.
“I am delighted that Senator Dingfelder is joining my
team,” said Mayor Charlie Hales in a statement. “She brings
a diverse portfolio of academic and professional expertise
to us on sustainability, planning, social justice, and envi-
ronmental issues. Her political and policy background will
be a huge asset for us and for the city. Soon all of Portland
will know what District 23 already knows about her effec-
tiveness!”
Dingfelder, who has served in the legislature for 12 years
representing parts of Northeast and Southeast Portland as
well as Maywood Park, is by trade an environmental con-
sultant although she is also known as a civil rights ally at
the state level.
A sponsor of the Natural Hair
Care Act promoted by local
hair stylist Amber Starks,
Dingfelder also co-sponsored
the Racial Profiling Bill
A sponsor of the successful Natural Hair Care Act pro-
moted by local hair stylist Amber Starks, Dingfelder also
co-sponsored the Racial Profiling Bill alongside Sen. Chip
Shields and Rep. Michael Dembrow.
“I have been privileged to serve Northeast and Southeast
Portland for many years. However, now, I look forward to
bringing my skills to all the people of Portland,” she said.
Dingfelder has served in the legislature since 2001, when
she was appointed to the state House of Representatives to
fill JoAnn Hardesty’s seat vacated when Hardesty ran
unsuccessfully for Multnomah County chair; Dingfelder
was elected to the Senate five years ago.
There, Dingfelder has chaired the Senate Committee on
the Environment and Natural Resources. She also served on
the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Ways and Means
Subcommittee on the Environment and Natural Resources.
She is currently a PhD candidate at Portland State Uni-
versity, Hatfield School of Government.
October 16, 2013
The Portland Skanner Page 3