THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2022 A9
“Grandma Millie inspired a
value of hard work in all of
us,. It’s just a spirit that lives
in all of us.”
chili
Continued from A1
The chili feed was the
brainchild of Millie Chopp,
the late matriarch of the Ras-
tovich family, Louise Brogan,
the daughter-in-law of news-
man and author Phil Brogan
and Dorothy Cale, Deschutes
County’s first female commis-
sioner. They wanted to find
a way to help fund the newly
founded Deschutes Historical
Museum after it opened its
doors in downtown Bend in
July of 1980. The three women
settled on chicken noodle
soup, according to The Bul-
letin’s archives, but that didn’t
last long.
“Millie’s Chili” was their
answer, and it’s drawn people
to the Veterans Day weekend
event since 1981.
Now, new generations of
women carry on the legacy of
hard work and determination
started by Chopp, Brogan and
Cale, said Kristin Okhuysen,
55, who is Chopp’s grand-
daughter.
“Grandma Millie inspired a
value of hard work in all of us,”
Okhuysen said.
“It’s just a spirit that lives in
all of us.”
Two women, Tina DeMelo,
58, and Emily Rastovich, 35,
Patrons enjoy
the comradery
during the De-
schutes Historical
Museum’s An-
nual Chili Feed
& Raffle in Bend
Saturday. One of
the ingredients
Saturday was 60
pounds of Bar-
ley Beef from the
over 100-year-old
Rastovich family
farm. The farm’s
cattle is fed with
the spent grain
from local Bend
breweries.
Dean Guernsey/The
Bulletin
who are also descendants of
Millie Chopp, stood in front
of a stove, their arms stir-
ring large pots of chili Satur-
day afternoon to keep it from
burning. At the end of the
day, when they hang up their
aprons, they’ll still smell like
the garlic they used in the
chili, they said.
The recipe has been passed
down for at least four genera-
tions, and it remains a secret
known only by members of
the family. One of the ingredi-
ents Saturday was 60 pounds
of Barley Beef from the over
100-year-old Rastovich family
farm. The farm’s cattle is fed
with the spent grain from lo-
cal Bend breweries.
Sue Penhollow used to play
in the big barn on the Ras-
tovich family farm as a child.
She is one of Chopp’s daugh-
ters, and she is at the core of
carrying on the tradition of
the chili feed.
“It’s just a homecoming,”
Penhollow said.
Penhollow, 78, is a former
Deschutes County Clerk and
a longtime Bendite. She re-
members the days when “ev-
erybody knew everybody” in
Bend. She spent Friday and
Saturday giving and receiving
hugs from people she hadn’t
seen since the last chili feed
two years ago.
— Kristin Okhuysen, Chopp’s
granddaughter
“It’s just wonderful,” she said.
Before the pandemic, vol-
unteers, mostly from the Ras-
tovich family or the Deschutes
Historical Society, would
make around 200 bowls of
chili for each day of the two-
day event — it began on Fri-
day — and sell out by the end,
$10 a bowl. This year, they
sold around 150 bowls on Fri-
day, Cannon-Miller said.
She was just happy that
folks still came to support the
historical society, she said. The
promise of a bowl of “Millie’s
chili” — or sometimes two —
was enough to attract long-
time patrons and first-timers.
The chili had not lost any of
its flavor during its two-year
absence. Some speculated on
Saturday it was the beef. Some
thought the garlic. But most
of them accepted it as a fact of
life, a cold weather tradition.
It was just good.
█
541-633-2160
akaminski@bendbulletin.com
541.480.8130
DALLAS
louie@louiehoffman.com
Two historic aircraft collide at Veterans Day show
BY LM OTERO AND JILL BLEED
Associated Press
DALLAS — Two historic military
aircraft collided and crashed Saturday
during an air show in Dallas, exploding
into a ball of flames and sending black
smoke billowing into the sky.
It was not clear how many people were
on board.
Emergency crews raced to the crash
scene at the Dallas Executive Airport,
about 10 miles from the city’s downtown.
News footage from the scene showed
crumpled wreckage of the planes in a
grassy area inside the airport perime-
ter. Dallas Fire-Rescue told The Dallas
Morning News that there were no re-
ported injuries among people on the
“All About Oregon Show”
ground.
Anthony Montoya saw the two planes
collide.
“I just stood there. I was in complete
shock and disbelief,” said Montoya, 27,
who attended the air show with a friend.
“Everybody around was gasping. Every-
body was bursting into tears. Everybody
was in shock.”
“Catch My Drift”
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