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A legendary Pueblo native, whose slopper helped put Pueblo chile in the national spotlight and whose decades-long dedication helped raise funds for less fortunate children, has died.
Chuck Chavez, 72, died on Aug. 13 after a short illness. He was a lifelong Puebloan who was best known as the co-owner of the Sunset Inn, 2808 Thatcher Ave.
Chavez and his wife Gerda were just six months into their marriage when they took over the bar in 1980 and after more than four decades of running the business were able to see it transform from a 3.2 beer joint into a popular eatery. A highlight for the couple has been seeing each of their three children and six grandchildren working for the business, said their youngest daughter Cassy Gibbons.
“We just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on June 22 and threw a really big party for 350 people at the Pueblo Convention Center,” Gibbons said. “One of our favorite stories was how mom and dad met. He was in the Army and they met in Germany.”
“They couldn’t speak the same language, could not talk to each other but they had the language of love,” Gibbons said.
Gerda’s father urged the young Chavez to return home and get his career in order before returning to Germany for his daughter.
“My grandpa thought he would be gone, but when he came back to the U.S. he was just so sad all the time. So my grandma took out a loan and got my dad a ticket to go back to Germany because, he ‘forgot something,’ that’s what they would say,” Gibbons explained.
The couple got married and had their first child, Tanja Barela, in Germany before returning home to Pueblo. Chavez drove a delivery truck for the Coors Brewing Company when he had the opportunity to purchase the Sunset Inn.
“He came home one night and told mom ‘I bought a bar’ and she was like, ‘What?'” Gibbons said.
Gibbons was just 3 months old at the time and her brother Taustin was born six years later in 1986. The Chavez family was in the middle of a huge upgrade on the Sunset Inn when tragedy struck and Taustin died in a car crash.
“I say the Sunset saved my parents during that time. They had to pick up the pieces and keep moving forward,” Gibbons recalled.
More on the slopper showdown: Slopper showdown
The ‘Slopper Wars’ put Pueblo and its chile on the map
“Four years later came the Slopper Wars. We got a call from Food Wars on the Travel Channel on April 1 and I thought it was an April Fools joke,” she said with a laugh.
The slopper, a cheeseburger swimming in Pueblo green chile, is usually served with a heaping of fries. There are many variations that have stemmed from the original.
The Slopper Wars pitted the Chavez family and Sunset Inn’s slopper against the Gray family and the Gray’s Coors Inn slopper.
On April 15, 2010, The Chieftain quoted Chuck Chavez about the Travel Channel’s Food Wars experience.
“Pueblo is going to be on the map, nationwide and worldwide. It’s awesome for the community of Pueblo,” he said.
“Honestly it made Pueblo,” Gibbons said. “It was crazy for sloppers and it made the Sunset crazy busy.”
The Sunset Inn won the competition 3-2, so it was as tight as a food war could get.
“We were making 40 gallons of chile every day. It was insane,” Gibbons recalled.
“It was a really good moment for both places and the funny thing is that my dad was friends with everybody. He made his rounds to all his friends bars to mingle. He was often at Gray’s — he made sure he was a customer for them,” Gibbons said.
Chavez grew up in The Blocks behind the Passkey and he graduated in 1969 from Roncalli when it was an all-boys Catholic High School. His childhood friends were lifelong friends.
Helping less fortunate children at Christmas
“When we were kids we were spoiled, so my mom wanted to make sure we knew there were kids that did not get a whole lot. That Christmas, we got gifts for 17 kids and they asked for things like nail polish so my mom made sure they had nail files, cotton balls, polish remover and all the things they needed to go with that,” Gibbons said.
The gifts were distributed anonymously through Posada of Pueblo so that the children’s parents could say they came from them or Santa Claus. As the years went by the entire family got in on the Christmas giving event and started hosting a fundraiser at the Sunset Inn so they could give even more gifts.
“Every year the fundraiser is held on the bye week of the Bronco schedule unless it’s too close to Christmas. We have a German Schnitzel or slopper dinner and an auction — it is such a really big event,” Gibbons said.
This past Christmas, the family, with the help of the fundraiser, were able to purchase a toy, shirt, pants and shoes for 187 children in need.
“The big thing in my father’s life was his friends and family. They always had his fullhearted love,” Gibbons said.
More on the Sunset Inn: How Pueblo’s Sunset Inn went from a 3.2 beer joint to a slopper haven
Chavez is survived by his wife Gerda; daughters Cassy Gibbons and Tanja Barela; six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Arrangements are through Angelus Mortuary. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22 at Praise Assembly Church, 2000 Troy Ave. A graveside service will follow at Imperial Gardens cemetery.
Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
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