Relative Says She Delivered More Than 3,000 Babies : Hester Olewiler, Longtime Doctor, Dies

Hester Olewiler, 91, one of Orange County’s first female doctors, died Tuesday in her Santa Ana home after a three-year battle with bone cancer, the family announced Wednesday.

At one time, Mrs. Olewiler was the only obstetrician in Orange County. She delivered more than 3,000 babies at a time when hospital births were rare, according to her son-in-law, Ed Romeo. She practiced obstetrics in Santa Ana for 41 years before retiring in 1960.

Mrs. Olewiler opened her practice on 4th Street above Edgar’s Grocery Store in Santa Ana in 1919 while her husband, Claude Olewiler, who died in 1952, was still a medical student. In a 1982 interview, Mrs. Olewiler said that her first payment for delivering a baby was a rooster, which she put in the backyard to fatten up.

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel E. Griset said that Mrs. Olewiler delivered several of his brothers and sisters and was a longtime friend of his family.

“She was a remarkable woman and doctor and will be remembered in that light,” Griset said. “Her contributions to Santa Ana in the fields of medicine and health will endure for generations to come, as will the love she gave to the city. God bless her.”

Mrs. Olewiler, who was born in Hemet, graduated from the College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons in Los Angeles in 1919; the school is now the UC Irvine College of Medicine.

She was described as gracious and kind by Margaret Key, an employee of Bowers Museum, where Mrs. Olewiler worked on the foundation board for about 10 years and displayed her paintings. She also belonged to the Women’s Ebell Club of Santa Ana and other civic and professional organizations.

She is survived by two daughters, Mary Kathryn Romeo and Donna Lucile Cressey; three sisters; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at the Waverly Chapel of Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana.