Gertie Deforce Cluff and her sister, Laure Deforce Gordon, built careers in fields originally followed exclusively by men. Gertie became the publisher of Lodi's first newspaper, The Valley Review, and Laura became California's first woman attorney as well as a nationally known lecturer and suffragette. Both sisters contributed to the growth and prosperity of Lodi and the surrounding area, and they are buried together in their family plot in Harmony Grove Cemetery in Lockeford, California.