'Loving mom' suffers horrific tragedy while enjoying daughter's softball game under shady tree
Gendie Miller, 49, and her husband Bill were rooting for their 16-year-old daughter Marlee on Wednesday when they decided to get out of the 90-degree heat and sit under a tree, WPXI reports.
As the teen was working on her drills just before 7pm, Bill said he heard a cracking sound that jolted him from his seat.
'I said to my wife, "Let's go,"' he recounted to WTAE.
'I jumped out of my chair, felt a small branch of some sort that grazed my leg. And I immediately turned to my right to look back at her and she was lying face down with large, multiple branches and limbs.'
Gendie had apparently been struck in the head by one of the branches, which Bill said were between 10 to 12 inches thick.
Good Samaritans immediately ran over to help remove the branches off of her limp body, Bill said, but the damage was too severe.
She died on her way to the local hospital.
'With the heavy load of the type of branch and limb, it was devastating,' the grieving husband said. 'And I can tell you that she didn't die from her heart, because her heart was too big.'
He explained that his wife of 17 years was known for her kind spirit, as well as her love for their travel softball family in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
'She would never miss a practice or an event, high school, travel ball, wherever it was,' Bill said. 'That was who she was.'
Family friend Luka Bompiani also described Gendie as 'such a loving woman, caring woman and a mother who lived for her daughter.
'And she put everything she had into Marlee and everything she had into Bill,' he said. 'It's just sad.'
In a statement, Sheri Burdett, the District 9 USA Softball of Pennsylvania commissioner, said she was 'deeply saddened to learn of the tragic situation that occurred before the start of our tournament.'
'Our thoughts and prayers are with the Miller family during this incredibly difficult time,' she said. 'At this moment, our sole focus is on supporting them in any way we can.'
McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko also said his 'thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time.
'An evening that started like any other, with families and friends gathered in the park for a game, has ended in tragedy after this horrible accident.'
Bill said he remains in shock about what happened, while their teenage daughter is 'being very strong.'
Still, community members are rallying around the family, with one of Marlee's coaches on her Nitro Fastpitch team setting up an online fundraiser to help Bill with the expenses related to his wife's untimely passing.
'Between medical/ambulance bills, funeral items and initial lost wages, Bill and Marlee could use all the hope they can get,' Michael Mull writes in the GoFundMe, which had already raised nearly $48,000 for the family as of Sunday.
'Although it doesn't bring back their loved one, it takes a bit of the burden off of coming up with funds they don't have right now for something so unexpected.'
'You never know when your time comes and this was such a freak accident that they definitely need the community support around them,' added Bompiani.
Yet the family friend expressed his hope that the family will be OK.
He noted that he had spoken with Bill on Friday, when the softball coach told him Marlee looked up at him earlier that day and said, 'Hey dad, we got this. We're gonna get through this, we got this together.'
'When I heard that [it] just brought tears to my eyes,' Bompiani said.
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