Miller Orchard ends its final chapter with public auction

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An auction at the Miller family farmstead and former orchard in Willard June 2 closed the door on a family business that operated from the late 40s until 1988. |ret||ret||tab|

The contents of the original house, which the family calls "the big house," and the orchard equipment were sold at the auction held by Billy Long Auctioneers.|ret||ret||tab|

Jesse and Martha Miller, who died in 1990 and 1998, respectively, opened Miller Orchard after moving to Willard from Springfield in 1945 with their daughter. Jesse worked for the Frisco West Shop and assisted Martha with the orchard when he could until retiring in 1968. The farmstead, adjacent to Willard High School, was at first a dairy farm and small orchard when the Millers purchased it, but soon grew into a full-scale orchard with apples, peaches, and nectarines.|ret||ret||tab|

The Millers' daughter, Anna Rafferty, said she was pleased with the results of the auction, which contained many pieces of antique furniture she and her mother had purchased for next to nothing at auctions over the years and restored them. |ret||ret||tab|

"When one door closes, the another one opens," Rafferty said. Rafferty, who grew up working in the orchard, remembers when orchard customers' cars lined Miller Road in front of the orchard in the heat of the summer picking seasons.|ret||ret||tab|

Rafferty's son, David Mann, also grew up working in the orchard and assisted his grandfather with managing the picking crew in the summers. With his mother and grandmother, they sold the fruit under a covered area in the barn, which was converted into a refrigerated area to maintain fruit quality.|ret||ret||tab|

"You couldn't sell fruit without cooling it down overnight, because if it got hot enough during the day, it would just cook overnight until it was mush in the morning. We didn't keep fruit more than 24 hours," Rafferty said. Rafferty said her mother loved working in the orchard even in the heat and trading fruit recipes with customers. |ret||ret||tab|

Mann took over management of the orchard in 1977 and was responsible for switching the orchard from sales of picked fruit only to a pick-your-own operation. |ret||ret||tab|

Rafferty said the years between 1977 and 1985 were the orchard's most profitable because of the switch. She said the orchard switched to pick-your-own after it became difficult to secure summer help. |ret||ret||tab|

"The pickers were mainly kids in the area who wanted summer work, but it got harder and harder to get them," Rafferty said. |bold_on| She said Mann also increased fruit production with more trees planted on a leased lot nearby. |ret||ret||tab|

Rafferty, a retired Willard school librarian, lives in a house built on the orchard property. Her son also lives in another house on the property with his family. |ret||ret||tab|

Rafferty said she has no plans to tear down or rent out the original farmhouse, which is her childhood home. Her mother lived in the big house until she died two years ago, she said. [[In-content Ad]]