On September 20, 1941 Virginia married Raymond Roney, a neighbor and school-mate of 12 years. Pearl Harbor was bombed in December of that year and it was not too long before Raymond went to the Navy. After the war, he returned to a neighboring farm and contributed much hard work and many ideas to the orchard business. In 1960 he started the McCordsville mail route, which he drove for the next 26 years. He is remembered by many today as a wonderful, friendly and caring man, "our mailman," who every year on his birthday left a tomato plant seedling in each mailbox on his route, along with the mail.

Raymond and Virginia’s son Tom was born June 28, 1946. He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Horticulture and went immediately into the Navy Seabees and spent 7 months in Vietnam. The good Lord sent him back to us A-OK and he has, with his brother, managed the operation of the farm since that day. Much of the inspiration for and implementation of the many improvements on the farm are due to his influence and hard work. The managing of the orchard, the planting of the trees, and their care, as well as the making of our award-winning cider, are Tom’s responsibility. Amidst all of this, he also found time to serve in the Naval Reserve for 23 years.

Roy and Tillie Tuttle continued to manage the growing orchard until 1960, when Roy had a severe heart attack. From then on Raymond and Virginia and their son, Tom, took more responsibility.

Raymond and Virginia’s second son, Mike was born June 10, 1953 and also graduated from Purdue with degrees in both Education and Horticulture. He taught at the high school level and worked in landscaping in Indianapolis for three years, and then came back to the farm. He set up and now manages the greenhouses, where we grow thousands of flower and vegetable plants every year, and is responsible for all of our cropland, which includes growing our delicious cantaloupes and sweet corn. He also manages the market, and has been responsible for many of the changes during it’s evolution from an 1885 dairy barn to the farm market it is now.

In June of 1980 Mike married Helen Alig, of Indianapolis. During the next twenty years along came Ruth Ann, David, Elizabeth, Frank, Thomas, Benjamin and Sarah, all of which have been welcomed to life at the orchard.

Helen, Mike’s wife, is responsible not only for the home school education of all seven children, (and she is doing a fine job of it), but is also in charge of the school tours each year, in which we welcome thousands of school children to our farm. Add to that the making of our delicious caramel apples and generally helping with hundreds of other details, especially in the fall, when the apples and pumpkins are harvested, and you will have some idea of Helen’s contribution.

Mike and Helen are also very involved in 4-H. All of the older children are members and last summer completed 33 projects collectively to take to the Hancock County Fair, many of them going on to the Indiana State Fair.

Much of the success of Tuttle Orchards can be attributed to the hard work of the many dedicated employees we have been blessed to have through these many years. We remember them all with love and gratitude.

The orchard continues both to stay the same, and to grow and change. We now grow 22 different kinds of apples on 4750 apple trees on 32 acres, along with an additional 30 acres of other fruits and vegetables. New farming practices replace the old, as old trees are removed and new varieties take their place. The new U-Pick trees are all staked and trained to wires, which is unusual for this part of the country. We still make our cider the old fashioned way, about 10,000 gallons a year, and our caramel apples are still, we are told, the best anywhere. Over 6,000 children from local schools now come to the orchard in our school tours program. The same pumpkin totem pole reigns over the harvest festivities in the fall, and Virginia Roney still minds the market 7 days a week.