Chili event cooks up honors for drowning victim, funds for mission projects

By SEAN BARRON

news@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Comforting. Selfless. Giving. Loving. Gentle. Friendly.

Those are the qualities Don Hernan of Youngstown hopes people will remember about his late wife, Sue.

“She took the time to talk and listen to people,” Hernan said of his wife, who died Aug. 1, 2010, at age 51 from a drowning accident after diving into Berlin Lake to save her two grandchildren, one of whom fell off an inner tube. “She had lots of friends.”

On Sunday, she was not only fondly remembered by hundreds of friends and family members but was honored during the first Sue Hernan Memorial Chili Cook-Off at Boardman United Methodist Church, 6809 Market St.

Eighteen contestants who used their own recipes to prepare chili dishes took part in the two-hour event, sponsored by the Boardman United Methodist Missions Committee. Attendees were offered small samplings of each, and the contestant who received the most tickets won.

Sunday’s winner was Hernan, who received a white apron.

Sue Hernan served four years as chairwoman of the missions committee and organized various fund-raising events, including the annual cook-off started about 10 years ago. This year, the committee decided to name the competition in his wife’s honor, Hernan explained.

Sue Hernan’s missions efforts included trips to Juarez, Mexico, where she delivered food and blankets to the poor, provided medical attention to the sick and helped rebuild a church in a poor section of town, he noted. Sue Hernan, who was a nurse at St. Joseph Health Center in Warren, also assisted with rebuilding efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, her husband recalled.

Other projects were concentrated in the Mahoning Valley and around Ohio, Hernan said.

Funds from Sunday’s gathering are to support missions projects around the world.

“We want to see her spirit alive in this church and increase missions work,” Hernan added.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.