Andigoni T. Steffa, 92, formerly of Cheltenham, a chocolatier who personalized Easter eggs for the John Wanamaker and Strawbridge & Clothier department stores in Philadelphia each Easter for two decades, died Saturday, Feb. 18, of congestive heart failure at Ann’s Choice, Warminster.

Mrs. Steffa was a baker and candy-maker, but it was her customized chocolate eggs, an outgrowth of her skill as a chocolatier, that earned her the most devoted following. During the two weeks before Easter, from 1985 to 2005, Mrs. Steffa was hired by Asher’s Chocolates to set up a table in front of the candy counter on the main floor at Wanamakers and, later, at Strawbridge & Clothier, both in Center City. Customers brought their children, and then their grandchildren, to meet “the Easter egg lady” and watch her write their names in white chocolate, in cursive, on the candy eggs, using a pastry bag and decorating tip. The customer had to pay for the chocolate egg, but typically, the personalized writing was free.

“She would do hundreds of eggs a day,” said daughter Paulette M. Steffa. “She would come home and count the slips [of paper indicating each transaction]. It was the highlight of her life.”  For some families, the excursion became an annual tradition. Throughout the rest of the year, the children often stopped Mrs. Steffa on the street to say hello, her family recalled.  Mrs. Steffa kept up the tradition until Strawbridge’s was acquired by Macy’s in 2005.

While most people worked 50 weeks a year and took off two for vacation, she worked two weeks a year and took off 50, Mrs. Steffa liked to joke.  In fact, she was a busy cook and baker, particularly of ethnic Albanian and Greek dishes and pastries, using recipes brought over from Albania and taught to her by her grandmother and mother.  Mrs. Steffa also learned cake decorating, and how to work with chocolate and marzipan. She sold her fancy wares from home or at craft fairs under the “Andi’s Candies” label.  She was known for her large chocolate “pizzas,” which were decorated with white chocolate, pieces of maraschino cherries, and other sweet garnishes. They looked like real pizzas and were delivered to customers in standard pizza boxes. She made the last chocolate pizza last month while maneuvering with her walker and an oxygen machine in assisted living. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?” her daughter said.

Born (February 24, 1924) and reared in Jenkins, Ky., she played the trumpet in the Jenkins High School Marching Band and took piano lessons from an early age.  She was active in theater productions, played tennis, and also was an accomplished seamstress. Her love of the coal-mining town was chronicled in a recent taping of her life story for the University of Kentucky historical archives. She credited her childhood there for her lifelong interest in classical and big band music, theater, basketball, ice skating, and dance. 

“Whenever she heard the first few notes of Glenn Miller’s ‘In the Mood,’ she would be up and dancing — she even danced to it with her walker a few days before her passing,” her family said.  Mrs. Steffa told family that in Jenkins she developed her passion for baking and the joy she took in entertaining and cooking for others.

She graduated in 1943 from Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Va., and worked there before moving with her family to Philadelphia in 1944, after the death of her father, Michael G. Ticco.  She became engaged to Capt. Peter L. Steffa, of the Army Medical Corps. They married in September 1945, upon his return from serving in the European Theater during World War II.

Mrs. Steffa became a homemaker and the mother of three. At the same time, her curiosity led her to be a lifelong learner, traveler, and reader. She also was a civic volunteer, serving as president of the junior board of the John B. Stetson Union Mission Hospital in Kensington. She was a member of the Mt. Moriah Chapter No. 19 of the Order of the Eastern Star, the Philadelphia Calligraphers’ Society, and the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels.  She was active in the Ladies Philoptochos Society “Nausica” of Annunciation/Evangelismos Greek Orthodox Church in Elkins Park, and the Ladies Society of SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church in Bustleton

In recent years, she had heart problems. As she declined, she told her family,  “We are all God’s people — black, white, gay, straight, Christian, Jew. ... No one is better than anyone else.”  Her last words were, “Be kind to everyone,” her family said.

Mrs. Steffa’s husband, Dr. Peter L. Steffa, died in 1978. Two brothers and a sister also died earlier. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by children Patricia L. Orphanos and Peter L. Jr.; two grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A viewing at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 27, will be followed by 11:30 a.m. funeral services at Annunciation/ Evangelismos Greek Orthodox Church, 7921 Old York Rd., Elkins Park. Burial is in Lawnview Cemetery, Rockledge.  She will be interred wearing her tap shoes, and Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home” will be played. Memorial donations may be made to the Orthodox Christian Mission Center-Albania, 220 Mason Manatee Way, St. Augustine, Fla. 32086, or the Kiwanis Club of Jenkins, Ky., Inc., Jenkins, Ky. 41537.