Mary Sue “Susie” Penhollow, Deschutes County Clerk from 1982-2002, passed away May 13, 2024 at the age of 79. Born at St. Charles Hospital on “Hospital Hill” in 1944, Susie was the youngest of three daughters born to Charlie and Millie Chopp. Susie graduated from Bend High School in 1962. She attended college for only one year at Oregon State University, but her college plans were cut short when her father died of a heart attack on a trip to visit family in Yugoslavia.
She returned home to Bend where she worked for Vince Genna at Bend Parks and Recreation and attended Central Oregon Community College at night. She met and married Mike Penhollow from Redmond in 1964. In 1970, she was hired by the Deschutes County Clerk’s office and upon the retirement of County Clerk Rosemary Patterson in 1982 she ran for the office herself. She was elected in fall of 1982 and held the office for 20 years until her retirement in 2002.
Under her leadership, Susie transitioned the clerk’s office not only to modern computerization but also implementation of Oregon’s Vote by Mail system in 1998. It was during this time that the clerk’s office also dealt with the extreme population growth between 1990 and 2000 when the population tripled from 20,469 to 52,029, vastly changing the size and nature of elections in Deschutes County.
Susie’s commitment to democracy and the power of free elections led her to serve as an elections observer in several countries, including Azerbaijan, Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Ukraine. She was active in the League of Women’s Voters, helping to host and lead non-partisan election debates and candidate forums. In addition, she was a long-timer board member and president for the Deschutes County Historical Society. She also remained active in the Deschutes Pioneer’s Association, PEO, Soroptimists, Assistance League, and Quota In Central Oregon.
Susie served as the Grand Marshall for the Christmas Parade 2017 and was honored by Bend High School as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2019. The Deschutes Historical Museum crowned her Pioneer Queen in February 2024, making she and her mother, Millie, the only mother and daughter to both serve in that role.
An obituary with more details on Susie’s personal history and funeral arrangements is forthcoming.