Around the bucolic Weber’s Cider Mill Farm in Baltimore County, Jo-Ann Weber was the boss.

Since 1971, the farm’s longtime co-owner and operator gave hundreds of young people their very first job working for the historic family business, where visitors could buy fresh local produce and up to 15 types of pies. Many of those staffers, now adults, took to social media this week to share fond memories of working for “Mrs. Jo-Ann.”

An obituary posted Wednesday on Weber’s Cider Mill Farm’s Facebook page said the business owner and family matriarch died Oct. 17 peacefully, surrounded by her family. She was 77.

Weber’s Cider Mill Farm has been in business since 1908 and is home to Maryland’s oldest cider mill in continuous use, according to the farm website.

Over the decades, the farm’s offerings expanded and transformed the Parkville property into a year-round destination for families. Much of that was thanks to Weber, her obituary said. She managed day-to-day operations, built the business up to include a bakery and gift shop and grew the farm’s popular Fall Harvest Days. She retired in 2020 to spend time with her children and grandchildren, the obituary states.

Born to Jean and Maxine Mullican on July 26, 1947, in Ellicott City, Jo-Ann Mullican was the fifth of six children. She went on to attend Howard High School, and became actively involved in her in her local 4-H club, through which she met her husband, Stephen Weber, the obituary states.

She earned degrees in elementary education from the University of Maryland in College Park and the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. After giving birth to her second of four children, Weber left a teaching job at Red House Run Elementary School to raise her family and operate Weber’s Cider Mill Farm. Together, the couple co-owned and operated the farm for nearly 50 years, according to the obituary.

Weber took an active role in state organizations that supported local growers. She served as president of the Maryland Direct Farm Market Association and as a board member for the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation.

In addition to her business accomplishments, Weber was an avid runner, an active member of local PTSAs and a world traveler, according to her obituary. She and her husband took trips to Mexico, Italy, Peru, Greece, Australia and New Zealand.

The obituary states Weber is survived by her husband, Steve, their children Amy Weber and her husband Peter VanMaasdam, Sara Herweck and her husband Matt, Stephen “Jake” Weber Jr. and his wife Megan, and Kathryn Poe and her husband Andy; and their grandchildren Jacob, Abigail, Samuel, Wolfgang and Corbin. She is also survived by her sisters, Jeannie Rooney and Judy Weiss.

The Weber family will host a celebration of the matriarch’s life on Dec. 14 at the farm.