Robert Rapp

Robert Wagner Rapp, Sr. served the Derby-Shelton Rotary Club as President during Rotary Year 1950- 51. He was born April 25, 1910 in Huntington, later renamed Shelton, the son of Adolph Otha (Otto) and Josephine Wagner Rapp. From a very early age he worked for his father in the family restaurant located at 445 Howe Avenue which also is where the family lived. He was married to Sophia Pyrih of Ansonia. Bob served in the U.S. Navy in World War II during 1944-45. He assumed management of the family restaurant upon his father’s death in 1939. Later he relinquished that position to his sister Madeline and her husband Nicholas Conti and started a catering and canteen business at 100 Center Street in Shelton. 

In 1963 he bought property on Sodom Lane in Derby and started Grassy Hill Lodge, a very popular and successful full service catering business for wedding and other festivities including picnics in the rear of the property. Upon retirement, he turned Grassy Hill Lodge over to his daughter Jo-Anna and her husband Allen Holden who continued the family traditions for many years. Bob Rapp, businessman and avid supporter of many community organizations, died in Shelton on May 1, 1996 at the age of 86.