Rae Belsinger Jeppi, a former bookkeeper at the Baltimore nut and candy company her father-in-law founded in 1884, died Friday of congestive heart failure at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. She was 90.
Mrs. Jeppi kept the books at Jeppi Nut and Candy Co. for 10 years beginning in 1961, when her husband, Anthony Thomas Jeppi, took over the family business.
Mr. Jeppi's father, Sicilian immigrant Giovanni "John" Jeppi, started out selling fruit and vegetables from a stall at the old Hanover Market at Sharp and Camden streets. The business thrived, even during the Great Depression, and soon the elder Jeppi was known as the "Peanut King."
Jeppi Nut and Candy Co. outgrew its Hanover Market stall and moved to 223 Sharp St. in the early 1900s. It remained there until the 1970s, when the area was razed to make room for the Baltimore Convention Center.
Anthony Jeppi sold the business in 1971. Known as Jeppi Nut Co., it is at 312 N. High St. in downtown Baltimore.
Even before Mrs. Jeppi assumed bookkeeping duties for the company, she would lend a hand during busy holiday periods.
"Her presence was very obvious every year at Christmas time," said her nephew, John Jeppi of Baltimore, who worked for a time at the company.
"My aunt would come down and sit in the office and take orders. He [Anthony Jeppi] was all business when he was working. She was always very pleasant."
Rae Belsinger was one of eight children born to Baltimore furniture salesman Harry Belsinger and his wife, Caroline. She grew up in West Baltimore and attended high school in the city. She married Anthony Jeppi in 1933. He died in September 1999.
The couple lived in Ruxton for 40 years before moving to Pickersgill Retirement Community in Towson a few years ago.
During World War II, while her husband served as a pharmacist's mate at the Naval Academy and the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Mrs. Jeppi volunteered with the Red Cross.
The organization later recognized her for meritorious personal service on behalf of the armed forces.
She continued to volunteer with the organization through the late 1960s, serving on the Baltimore Regional Red Cross' board of directors from 1956 to 1967.
John Jeppi said his aunt and uncle loved being around youngsters.
"She and my uncle, they loved children. and they would often entertain the neighborhood kids," he said.
Neighbors returned the favor years later, doing shopping for the Jeppis before the couple moved to the retirement community.
"When I was 12 years old, she taught me to do the Charleston because she was a flapper," said Corrine Peterson, a niece. "She used to take several of us, and we'd go shopping and we'd go down to Hutzler's tea room."
Mrs. Jeppi was a communicant of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Towson, where services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday.
Mrs. Jeppi is survived by one sister, Irma Rock of Westminster; and many nieces and nephews.
