SHELBYVILLE, Ind. -- The Shelbyville gravesite of Sandy Allen is marked only by a few flowers, but friends hope a fundraiser will help cover the costs of a grave stone for Allen, the 7-foot-7 woman recognized as the world's tallest female until her death in August.

Family friends are organizing an Oct. 18 fundraiser featuring softball and cornhole tournaments and a community cookout.

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2004 Slideshow: World's Tallest Woman

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Allen's friends also want to raise money for a proposed statue of Allen, but that idea has not yet been approved by the city of Shelbyville.

Friends remember Allen as a kind and generous woman who developed a sense of humor about her height.

Allen died at age 53. She had been hospitalized in the months leading to her death as she suffered from a recurring blood infection, along with diabetes, breathing troubles and kidney failure.

Allen appeared on many television shows and spoke to church and school groups over the years, using her height to inspire schoolchildren to accept those who are different.

Allen weighed just 6.5 pounds when she was born in June 1955. By age 10, she had grown to 6 feet 3 inches tall and to 7 feet 1 inch by age 16 as a tumor caused her pituitary gland to produce too much growth hormone. She underwent an operation in 1977 to stop further growth.

She was struggling with how tall she was when she wrote to Guinness World Records in 1974, saying she would like to get to know someone her own height. Guinness for years had recognized her as the world's tallest living woman.

Friends told 6News in August that Allen had a positive outlook that stayed with her until the end.

"Growing up being that tall, she obviously got some ridicule. She always took it in stride, never ill-tempered. She was a real nice person, she really was," said Tim Turner, who went to school with Allen.