David R. Balmer Sr., 84, of 546 E. Walnut St., Lebanon, died Monday, Sept. 1, 2003, in Lebanon's Good Samaritan Hospital. He was the husband of the late Georgine M. Gambler Balmer, who died Jan. 5, 1985. Born March 25, 1919, in Palmyra, he was a son of the late David P. and Mary Jane Goodman Balmer. He was a 1936 graduate of Palmyra High School where he was the basketball captain and played first base on the baseball team. He then attended Temple University. Among his other athletic achievements were: member of the Palmyra Lions Basketball Team in 1937 and 1938; member of the Fort Meade, Md. basketball team; member of the three-time-champion Hebron Evangelical United Brethren; member of the Hebron EUB church softball team; and the captain of the Hebron team of the Lebanon Valley Pool League. In Manheim, Germany, in 1945, he placed first in a football-throw contest with a toss of 69 yards, and he was a semi-finalist in a local tennis tournament. He was chairman of the Lebanon Elks and Moose Lodge Bowling Tournament for 22 years, and was a member of the state champion Bedford Elks bowling team in 1965. He worked at Hershey Chocolate Corp. before entering the military. He entered civil service in 1946 at Fort Indiantown Gap. He worked part-time at A.S. Kettering Foods and then worked at the former Olmsted Air Force Base, Middletown, and the New Cumberland Army Depot, retiring in 1977 as a supply specialist. An Army veteran of World War II, he served with the 335th Infantry Division in the European theater and was awarded the Bronze Star and Combat Infantryman's Badge. In June he was interviewed for the Pennsylvania Public Television Network World War II documentary, "In Their Own Words." He was a member of Hebron United Methodist Church, Hebron Playground Association, Hebron Hose Co., Friendship Fire Co., Lebanon VFW, American Legion, Lebanon Navy Club Ship 91, Lebanon Lodge B.P.O. Elks and the Central Chapter Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. Surviving are daughter Beverly, wife of Raymond J. Bender of Cornwall; son David R. Jr., husband of Lynn Balmer of Manheim; sister Helen Ulrich of Middletown; two granddaughters; a great-grandson; and several nephews and a niece. He was preceded in death by brothers Harold Balmer and Cyrus Balmer and sister Dorothy Reigle. His funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday in Hebron United Methodist Church, Fifth Avenue and East Walnut Street, Lebanon, preceded by a viewing from 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at Christman's Funeral Home, 226 Cumberland St., Lebanon. Interment will be in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Myerstown. [Daily News, The (Lebanon, PA) - Wednesday, September 3, 2003]