‘Her heart's too big': Mom killed by falling tree branch as she camped out in shade at daughter's softball tournament
Gendie Miller, 49, and her husband Bill Miller were watching their daughter, Marlee, 16, play in the Western PA College Showcase softball camp at Renziehausen Park in McKeesport, Pennsylania, Wednesday when several large tree branches suddenly fell from above them. The had moved to sit under a tree in the shade because temperatures reached 90 degrees.
'I said to my wife, 'Let's go.' 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 face down with large, multiple branches and limbs,' Bill Miller told WTAE.
He recalled seeing several branches, each about 10 to 12 inches thick, piled on top of his wife of 17 years. It's unclear what led the tree branches to snap.
'Suddenly, the tree started to make cracking noises and a very large branch fell, striking Gendie in the head, knocking her unconscious to the ground, and entrapping her under the tree,' a GoFundMe page read.
Bystanders immediately sprang into action, moving the branches off the mom, but the extent of her injuries was too severe. Gendie Miller was rushed to the hospital, but did not survive.
'To be so traumatic, and with the heavy load of the type of branch and limb, it was devastating. And I can tell you that she didn't die from her heart, because her heart's too big,' Bill Miller said.
The dedicated mom 'would never miss a practice or an event, high school, travel ball, whatever it was. That was who she was,' her husband said.
'She would give you the shirt off her back,' he added.
The grieving dad said both he and their daughter remain in a state of shock following the incident.
'I think I'm in shock, and surreal that it obviously hasn't hit me the worst – nor my daughter, for that matter. She is being very strong. And, you know, worried about that, just as I'm worried about her,' he said.
A GoFundMe started by Marlee Miller's coach noted that since it was in the 90s, the couple had decided to sit under a shady tree while watching their daughter perform drills before scrimmaging in front of college coaches. The fundraiser had received over $48,000 in donations as of Monday morning.
'Between medical/ambulance bills, funeral items, and initial lost wages, Bill and Marlee could use all the help they can get,' the page read. 'Although it doesn't bring back their loved one, it takes a little bit of the burden off of coming up with funds they don't have right now for something so sudden and unexpected.'
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