Joe Huber, RIP

Southern Indiana is mourning with the loss of a local icon-- restaurant-owner, pick-your-own-produce entrepreneur, business guru, family man, and by all accounts, a great man.

From Grace Schneider in the C-J...

Joe Huber Jr., whose pioneering you-pick farm business transformed Starlight into an agriculture-themed tourist attraction, died yesterday after battling acute leukemia. He was 74....

His death brought an outpouring of sympathy to the family gathered at the operation Huber founded four decades ago....

"It's pretty overwhelming," said a tearful Joe Huber III, Huber's oldest son. He said his dad will be remembered for his humble roots and his savvy as a businessman who gave to others, especially other family farmers....

"He was an example of how to be a father, a neighbor, a fellow businessman, a Christian," [John] Hilger [a man whom Huber helped to open a similar business in Fort Wayne] said....

Besides Bonnie, his longtime partner in business, and his children, Huber had 12 grandchildren and a first great-grandchild who was born Sunday....

Huber was the fifth of 11 children born to German descendants who settled the scenic community atop the knobs in western Clark County. He grew up milking cows and doing other chores on his parents' farm.

When he was 17, his father, Joe Sr., chose him as manager, and the young Huber passed up a full scholarship to Purdue University where he had hoped to study agriculture. Instead, his father told him he needed "Junior" at home when an older brother left to serve during the Korean War....

He and his wife started what's believed to be Indiana's first you-pick operation four decades ago in a bid to sell their fruits and vegetables wholesale. Huber credited a telephone call one day inviting former WHAS farm reporter Barney Arnold to visit for putting Starlight on the map....

The two developed a friendship, and Arnold began making regular announcements that spring and summer about you-pick strawberries and green beans coming from the fields. Such exposure was invaluable for a place located miles from the interstates and virtually unknown to many in Louisville and Southern Indiana, Huber said.

Within five years, Huber and his children were farming 900 acres, waking some days at 5 a.m. to find customers outside waiting for the family to emerge, he recalled....

The you-pick business diminished in the early 1980s when many housewives shelved their canners and took jobs, Huber said. So to replace the lost trade, the family built a restaurant on Scottsville Road.

The restaurant seats more than 400 diners and sells up to 7,200 pounds of chicken a week.

The couple's children took the reins of the business 12 years ago and now oversee 140 employees during the busy fall season. The business includes a 260-acre farm, a market and gift shop, and two large barns for serving buffet-style company picnics.

After he retired, said younger brother John Huber, Joe Huber loved to tool around the property on his golf cart. He'd invite some delighted, unsuspecting visitors to hop on and go for a tour, talking about farming, fruit trees and the season's pumpkin crop....

Paul Beckort, chief executive officer of the Harrison County REMC, which serves five Southern Indiana counties, said...people recognized Huber for setting high standards.

"He insisted on doing business with integrity," said Beckort, of Laconia. "He used that word every board meeting."...

From Daniel Suddeath in the News-Tribune...

The Starlight community and countless other Southern Indiana residents are mourning the loss of Joe Huber Jr. — a man described as a visionary and agri-tourism icon....

He started the first “you-pick-it” farm in the Midwest in 1967 in his hometown of Starlight, where he would later open the Joe Huber Family Restaurant in 1983...

“He is an icon. He created the Starlight visitor experience as we know it today,” Keith said. “He was just a true delight to be with and he always had a twinkle in his eye. We’ll miss him.”

Keith credits Huber for inventing agri-tourism here, and said his contribution to Starlight will forever be remembered.

Keith said Huber was always full of life and he considered it an honor to spend time with him....

“Joe was a bedrock leader in our community who touched countless lives,” [Ray] Lucas [executive director of Catholic Youth Ministries for Southern Indiana] said. “I think more than anything, Joe was an example of family values.”...

I love that his obituary identifies him as a "fruit and vegetable grower" and restauranteur. And I couldn't find it on the News-Tribune website, but an op-ed piece from Ray Lucas described his "golf cart rides with Joe". And I was fortunate to have one of those with Joe last Fall.

He had agreed to meet with me after a mutual friend approached him (without me knowing). Joe and I talked about his usual fare-- anecdotes about life and business. We talked about faith. And we talked about his frustration with politics.

He spent two hours with me-- coffee, coffee talk, and of course, the ride over the grounds in his golf cart. He was a pleasure to speak with and from everything I could tell, a fine man.

Southern Indiana, Starlight, and his extended family will miss him.

I suspect that he's overlooking some mighty fine produce in the New Eden right now...