Meet Chief Stacy Jepson, Beaverton Police Department

Stacy Jepson grew up in a blended family way back when that wasn’t a thing… or at least it didn’t have a name. If you’re a person of a certain age, think Brady Bunch… kind of. Stacy’s mom and dad each brought 3 kids into their marriage. Then they added two more, a boy, Todd, and a couple of years later, Stacy. The older six were all pretty much of another generation by this time, so growing up it was Stacy and Todd, and they enjoyed a pretty good home life. Stacy had a strong bond with her dad. 

A tomboy, living in a neighborhood with mostly boys, what would you expect? Stacy excelled in sports, particularly basketball, softball, and soccer, lettering in high school in all three. Then, as life will do to you, she took a curve ball that she didn’t see coming. Her father passed suddenly from a heart attack, then her mom was diagnosed with cancer. And if that wasn’t enough, another light in her life, her grandfather, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s not long after. Stacy had to grow up fast as she became a caregiver for her mom and grandfather. 

Her world turned upside down, suddenly college wasn’t so much on her radar, despite being recruited by some universities with athletic scholarships. She did enroll in a community college and eventually landed at Western Oregon, where a roommate encouraged her to look into law enforcement. That’s when she found her true calling.

Links

• Beaverton Police Department
• Beaverton Police Department Community Academy

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Meet Chris & Dean Hogan of Chick-fil-A Raleigh Hills

When you know, you know. Right? That’s what Chris and Dean Hogan both said when asked about how they got together. Now, this wasn’t one of those connections that happened in early elementary school… kind of. And it could never have happened at all. The two did live near each other on the Oregon coast, but Dean is a couple of years older than Chris, and his family moved inland to Vancouver for a while. So the odds were a bit long for them ever meeting. Then, Dean’s family moved back to the coast, where he was enrolled at Seaside High, where Chris went to school. 

Dean was a standout on the Seaside High baseball team, where he had a knack for hitting homers. Remember that old Nike commercial with the Atlanta Braves pitchers and Mark McGwire? The one that coined the phrase “Chicks dig the longball”? That phrase was on point in this case. Those homers caught Chris’ attention. And so Chris would walk past the gas station where Dean worked to get a look at him. Eventually, she wandered in and the two struck up a conversation. When you know, you know, right

Not long after that they were engaged and on their way to a life together. Now life has a habit of throwing curve balls at you. And that happened with Chris and Dean. But it taught them about adversity and how to hit those curves and put priorities in the right direction to take care of one another, their family, and their community. 

Links

• Chick-fil-A Raleigh Hills 
• Dean Hogan LinkedIn 
• Chris Hogan LinkedIn 

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Meet Pauline Lee, Program for Intellectual Empowerment 

Pauline Lee, even before she came into the world, was putting others' needs ahead of her own. She’s the youngest of 4 kids, the last two being twins, of which she was the younger. But when her mom Nancy went into labor Pauline was the twin who was ready to enter the world first. Then… her sister Patricia began having problems and the docs called an audible and instead of delivering Pauline, brought Patricia into the world first, via C-section. You could make the argument that Patricia owes Pauline her life… tongue-in-cheek, of course.

But there it is, still in the womb and already helping others. That’s just who she is. Pauline devoted her life to helping and lifting up others. In 2018 she felt God leading her to open an education program for children who are neurodivergent. Since then children that were often labeled with behavior problems or socially awkward, began to thrive, learn, grow and discover who they wanted to be and how they could contribute to society.

She’s studied the issues, seen what really works for, well, everyone, those of us who are classified as disabled or not. We’re born to communicate and connect, but more often than not, we forget how to do just that. And you know, that’s a bigger issue that’s really bubbled to the surface over the past several years.

Links

• Program for Intellectual Empowerment
• Artful Autism
• PIE Instagram
• Artful Autism Instagram
• Artful Autism​ Shop
• Whole Person Learning

• Support Meet Me In Beaverton via Venmo or PayPal.