Frances Elizabeth Promutico DiPietro, who as the wife of one of the city's most colorful politicians preferred the solitude of her basement sewing room to the politics of East Baltimore, died of cancer Sunday at her home on Claremont Street. She was 69.
"My husband tells everyone I'm the boss. Yeah, I'm the boss. He's 85 percent, and I'm 15 percent," she was fond of saying of her husband, Dominic "Mimi" DiPietro, the former 1st District city councilman who died in August at 89.
The Rev. Luigi "Lou" Esposito, pastor of Our Lady of Pompei Roman Catholic Church, said, "She really was the lady behind the scenes and was a very strong woman in every sense of the word. She was a very private person who loved her home and taking care of Mimi and his brother, Sam, who lived with them.
"She really let Mimi have the spotlight and used to remind him that he really was the boss. He used to get tears in his eyes when he talked about her nursing his sick brother and would say, 'What would I do without her?' "
Mrs. DiPietro grew up on Eaton Street in Highlandtown and graduated from Our Lady of Pompei parochial school. After the deaths of her mother and father, she put aside plans to become a dress designer in order to raise a younger brother. She supported the family by working as a tailor.
She began dating Mr. DiPietro in 1964 when the two discovered they were members of the same European tour. They continued dating after returning to Baltimore.
They married in 1966 -- she was nearly 41 and he was 20 years her senior -- and the same year he was elected to the Baltimore City Council.
They settled in his family home where he had lived since 1911. While he pursued a political career, she busied herself in her basement sewing room, making her own clothes, bedspreads and curtains. She also refinished antique furniture and did needlepoint.
"He was a lifelong bachelor, and we were glad to get rid of him," Lena Jansen of Baltimore, Mr. DiPietro's sister, said with a laugh. "She was very nice to Mimi, and she took care of our brother, Sam, until it got to be too much for her. She was a devoted homemaker and a saint. She had to be to live with Mimi."
Mrs. DiPietro was a longtime member of the Daughters of Charity, a Catholic volunteer organization, and the Women's Democratic Club.
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Our Lady of Pompei, 227 S. Conkling St., Baltimore.
She is survived by three brothers, Anthony L. Promutico of Catonsville, Gilbert Promutico of Highlandtown and Carmen J. Promutico of New York City; a sister, Jean P. Whittaker of New York City; and several nephews and nieces.
Memorial donations may be made to Our Lady of Pompei School Fund, 3600 Claremont St., Baltimore 21224.