I just saw this on the CJ website, and thought I'd pass along:
Joe Huber, whose pioneering you-pick farm business transformed Starlight, Ind. into an agri-tourist mecca, died this morning at Baptist Hospital East in Louisville. He was 74.
Huber died of complications from an infection after battling cancer. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Huber is survived his wife and long-time partner in business, Bonnie, his five children and 12 grandchildren.
The Huber family business includes a 260-acre farm, a market and gift shop, and two large barns for serving buffet-style company picnics.
Huber was the fifth of eleven children born to German descendants who’d settled the scenic community atop the knobs in western Clark County.
He milked cows and worked his parents’ farm. At 17, his father chose him as manager.
He passed up a full scholarship to Purdue University, where he hoped to study agriculture after his father Joe Sr. told him that he needed “Junior” at home to work when an older brother left to serve during the Korean War.
The couple’s children took the reins of the business 12 years ago, and oversee 140 employees during the fall busy season.
Huber said then that he’s proud that all five of his children have a vested interest in the business, which should survive as a family-owned enterprise in Starlight for years to come. “It’s been a good life,” Huber said.