Gertrude Benner, 86, of East Greenville, passed away peacefully surrounded by her beloved family on February 27, 2018. She was the wife of the late Harold L. Benner who passed away last March. Born in Kulpsville, she was a daughter of the late Henry and Sallie Mae (Buchenauer) Alderfer. She was a 1949 graduate of Sell Perk High where she was a scholar athlete who excelled in Softball, Basketball, and Field Hockey. Immediately after graduation, she embarked on a professional baseball career. She played for the Chicago Colleens in 1949, and the Springfield Sallies and the Muskegon Lassies in 1950. She gave up her professional career to care for her ailing mother in 1951. However, she continued to play baseball locally for the Nifty 50’s at the Limeport AA. She was a member of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. The league was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1988 and she and all of the girls who played in the league are enshrined there in a permanent display. She was also inducted into the Pennridge-Quakertown Sports Hall of Fame. After returning to Pennsylvania, she married Harold Benner and raised three children, Karen, wife of Timothy Britton of Pennsburg, Sandra, wife of David Young of Palm, and Thomas and his wife Jennifer of Whitefish Bay, WI. They gave her eight grandchildren: Melissa, wife of Corey Cosgrove, Jonathan, Amanda, Blair, AiYi, Lily, Nathan, and Charlotte. She has two living siblings: Ralph and his wife Helga, and Carol and his wife Judy, both of Sellersville. Along with her parents and husband, she was predeceased by siblings, William, Leroy, and Elmer.
A celebration of her life will be held at 12:30 PM on March 10 in her church, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 910 Allentown Rd., Sellersville, PA 18960. All are invited to gather with the family from 11 AM until the service begins. She will be interred with her husband in the church cemetery.
Falk Funeral Home∼Gertrude Alderfer [Gert] (September 21, 1931 – February 27, 2018) was a first basewoman and catcher who played from 1949 through 1950 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw right-handed.
A native of Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, Alderfer was an all-around athlete who did play field hockey, basketball and softball in high school. She also played on a playground baseball team for two years in which she was the only girl among several boys. At 17 age, she attended an AAGPBL tryout with about 200 girls in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Only nine of them made it to their destination, including Alderfer. She went to Chicago, Illinois for spring training after the night of her graduation. Most of her time in the AAGPBL was spent on the two touring training teams, the Springfield Sallies and Chicago Colleens, though she did stay with the Muskegon Lassies during five weeks in 1950.
The Colleens and Sallies played exhibition games and recruited new talent as they toured through the South and East. Highlights of these tours included contests at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. and Yankee Stadium in New York. Alderfer played for them in 1949 (Sallies) and 1950 (Coleens). She was drafted again by the Lassies after moving to Kalamazoo in 1951, but her mother took ill and she decided to stay home and care for her. Alderfer believed the toughest pitcher she faced was Doris Sams and the best player she saw in action was Dottie Schroeder. "Playing baseball and being paid for having fun was great. Also traveling to different cities and meeting a lot of different people. My teammates were the greatest.", she recalled.
Alderfer hit a .236 batting average in 54 games. Following her baseball career, she worked at Ameter, Inc., for over 40 years, retiring in 1993. She married in 1955 and changed her name to Gertrude Alderfer Benner. She and her husband raised their three children and had five grandchildren. The AAGPBL folded in 1954, but there is now a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York since November 5, 1988 that honors those who were part of this unique experience. Gertrude, along with the rest of the league's girls, is now enshrined in the Hall.
A celebration of her life will be held at 12:30 PM on March 10 in her church, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 910 Allentown Rd., Sellersville, PA 18960. All are invited to gather with the family from 11 AM until the service begins. She will be interred with her husband in the church cemetery.
Falk Funeral Home∼Gertrude Alderfer [Gert] (September 21, 1931 – February 27, 2018) was a first basewoman and catcher who played from 1949 through 1950 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw right-handed.
A native of Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, Alderfer was an all-around athlete who did play field hockey, basketball and softball in high school. She also played on a playground baseball team for two years in which she was the only girl among several boys. At 17 age, she attended an AAGPBL tryout with about 200 girls in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Only nine of them made it to their destination, including Alderfer. She went to Chicago, Illinois for spring training after the night of her graduation. Most of her time in the AAGPBL was spent on the two touring training teams, the Springfield Sallies and Chicago Colleens, though she did stay with the Muskegon Lassies during five weeks in 1950.
The Colleens and Sallies played exhibition games and recruited new talent as they toured through the South and East. Highlights of these tours included contests at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. and Yankee Stadium in New York. Alderfer played for them in 1949 (Sallies) and 1950 (Coleens). She was drafted again by the Lassies after moving to Kalamazoo in 1951, but her mother took ill and she decided to stay home and care for her. Alderfer believed the toughest pitcher she faced was Doris Sams and the best player she saw in action was Dottie Schroeder. "Playing baseball and being paid for having fun was great. Also traveling to different cities and meeting a lot of different people. My teammates were the greatest.", she recalled.
Alderfer hit a .236 batting average in 54 games. Following her baseball career, she worked at Ameter, Inc., for over 40 years, retiring in 1993. She married in 1955 and changed her name to Gertrude Alderfer Benner. She and her husband raised their three children and had five grandchildren. The AAGPBL folded in 1954, but there is now a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York since November 5, 1988 that honors those who were part of this unique experience. Gertrude, along with the rest of the league's girls, is now enshrined in the Hall.
Gertrude Benner, 86, of East Greenville, passed away peacefully surrounded by her beloved family on February 27, 2018. She was the wife of the late Harold L. Benner who passed away last March. Born in Kulpsville, she was a daughter of the late Henry and Sallie Mae (Buchenauer) Alderfer. She was a 1949 graduate of Sell Perk High where she was a scholar athlete who excelled in Softball, Basketball, and Field Hockey. Immediately after graduation, she embarked on a professional baseball career. She played for the Chicago Colleens in 1949, and the Springfield Sallies and the Muskegon Lassies in 1950. She gave up her professional career to care for her ailing mother in 1951. However, she continued to play baseball locally for the Nifty 50’s at the Limeport AA. She was a member of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. The league was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1988 and she and all of the girls who played in the league are enshrined there in a permanent display. She was also inducted into the Pennridge-Quakertown Sports Hall of Fame. After returning to Pennsylvania, she married Harold Benner and raised three children, Karen, wife of Timothy Britton of Pennsburg, Sandra, wife of David Young of Palm, and Thomas and his wife Jennifer of Whitefish Bay, WI. They gave her eight grandchildren: Melissa, wife of Corey Cosgrove, Jonathan, Amanda, Blair, AiYi, Lily, Nathan, and Charlotte. She has two living siblings: Ralph and his wife Helga, and Carol and his wife Judy, both of Sellersville. Along with her parents and husband, she was predeceased by siblings, William, Leroy, and Elmer.
A celebration of her life will be held at 12:30 PM on March 10 in her church, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 910 Allentown Rd., Sellersville, PA 18960. All are invited to gather with the family from 11 AM until the service begins. She will be interred with her husband in the church cemetery.
Falk Funeral Home∼Gertrude Alderfer [Gert] (September 21, 1931 – February 27, 2018) was a first basewoman and catcher who played from 1949 through 1950 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw right-handed.
A native of Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, Alderfer was an all-around athlete who did play field hockey, basketball and softball in high school. She also played on a playground baseball team for two years in which she was the only girl among several boys. At 17 age, she attended an AAGPBL tryout with about 200 girls in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Only nine of them made it to their destination, including Alderfer. She went to Chicago, Illinois for spring training after the night of her graduation. Most of her time in the AAGPBL was spent on the two touring training teams, the Springfield Sallies and Chicago Colleens, though she did stay with the Muskegon Lassies during five weeks in 1950.
The Colleens and Sallies played exhibition games and recruited new talent as they toured through the South and East. Highlights of these tours included contests at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. and Yankee Stadium in New York. Alderfer played for them in 1949 (Sallies) and 1950 (Coleens). She was drafted again by the Lassies after moving to Kalamazoo in 1951, but her mother took ill and she decided to stay home and care for her. Alderfer believed the toughest pitcher she faced was Doris Sams and the best player she saw in action was Dottie Schroeder. "Playing baseball and being paid for having fun was great. Also traveling to different cities and meeting a lot of different people. My teammates were the greatest.", she recalled.
Alderfer hit a .236 batting average in 54 games. Following her baseball career, she worked at Ameter, Inc., for over 40 years, retiring in 1993. She married in 1955 and changed her name to Gertrude Alderfer Benner. She and her husband raised their three children and had five grandchildren. The AAGPBL folded in 1954, but there is now a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York since November 5, 1988 that honors those who were part of this unique experience. Gertrude, along with the rest of the league's girls, is now enshrined in the Hall.
A celebration of her life will be held at 12:30 PM on March 10 in her church, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 910 Allentown Rd., Sellersville, PA 18960. All are invited to gather with the family from 11 AM until the service begins. She will be interred with her husband in the church cemetery.
Falk Funeral Home∼Gertrude Alderfer [Gert] (September 21, 1931 – February 27, 2018) was a first basewoman and catcher who played from 1949 through 1950 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw right-handed.
A native of Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, Alderfer was an all-around athlete who did play field hockey, basketball and softball in high school. She also played on a playground baseball team for two years in which she was the only girl among several boys. At 17 age, she attended an AAGPBL tryout with about 200 girls in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Only nine of them made it to their destination, including Alderfer. She went to Chicago, Illinois for spring training after the night of her graduation. Most of her time in the AAGPBL was spent on the two touring training teams, the Springfield Sallies and Chicago Colleens, though she did stay with the Muskegon Lassies during five weeks in 1950.
The Colleens and Sallies played exhibition games and recruited new talent as they toured through the South and East. Highlights of these tours included contests at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. and Yankee Stadium in New York. Alderfer played for them in 1949 (Sallies) and 1950 (Coleens). She was drafted again by the Lassies after moving to Kalamazoo in 1951, but her mother took ill and she decided to stay home and care for her. Alderfer believed the toughest pitcher she faced was Doris Sams and the best player she saw in action was Dottie Schroeder. "Playing baseball and being paid for having fun was great. Also traveling to different cities and meeting a lot of different people. My teammates were the greatest.", she recalled.
Alderfer hit a .236 batting average in 54 games. Following her baseball career, she worked at Ameter, Inc., for over 40 years, retiring in 1993. She married in 1955 and changed her name to Gertrude Alderfer Benner. She and her husband raised their three children and had five grandchildren. The AAGPBL folded in 1954, but there is now a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York since November 5, 1988 that honors those who were part of this unique experience. Gertrude, along with the rest of the league's girls, is now enshrined in the Hall.
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