Kellye is an original, artistic soul who can’t be contained inside four walls for long. She travels the open road with Freya, the 12-year old dog she’s had since she was a puppy.
She was born in Ukiah, Calif., and raised everywhere.
“I went to 15 different schools,” Kellye said. “There were things I learned several times, and things I never touched. I learned to make friends easily. I learned to be personable.”
Kellye’s been homeless off and on for some time. She’s lived with her sister and with friends in Portland, but after a while, she wants to be back outside. When she was younger, she spent her free time hiking and camping in the Wasatch Mountains near Logan, Utah.
“Once I hit my teenage years, you couldn’t get me out of the mountains,” she said. “Sometimes I can’t handle four walls around me.”
Kellye and Freya sell Street Roots outside Lovejoy Bakers on 10th and Lovejoy.
“The staff there treat me very well,” Kellye said. “They give me coffee and muffins and treats for Freya.”
Kellye’s also made friends with a club-footed pigeon she calls Brutus, who likes to stand near her and wait for bread crumbs.
While she sells her papers outside the bakery, Kellye works on a song she likes to sing.
“Singing helps me with my Street Roots shuffle,” she said. “My song is a work in progress. I loop it around all day. I sing it to myself, and if I’m feeling extroverted, I sing it louder.”
Once, a woman walked past, heard her song, stopped and turned around to listen and buy a paper.
I felt like I had nothing to lose, beaten, broken, black and blue
Till I got a leg up from Street Roots.
They put the skip back in my boots, my confidence no longer bruised.
Now I’m making new friends all day long, and getting to meet all the dogs.
It’s because of them I wrote this song.
So stop by the Lovejoy Bakers at Northwest 10th Avenue and Lovejoy Street if you want to hear the song from the songwriter herself and meet Brutus and Freya. Freya might be wearing her new custom-knitted coat.
“Last week, this guy saw me with my pack and a dog, and said ‘Hey, my wife knits coats for dogs,’” Kellye said.
Freya was headed for a fitting after this interview.
“Portland is full of the coolest people,” Kellye said.