Frances Romie; Retired Physician

Frances Romie, a retired Canoga Park doctor who was one of the first single women in California to adopt a child, has died in Tarzana. She was 68.

A general practitioner and surgeon specializing in gynecology and obstetrics, she delivered thousands of babies during her career, which spanned from the late 1950s until her retirement in 1988.

She died Friday of cancer, said her son Leonard K. Romie.

Born in Midland, Pa., Dr. Romie worked as a registered nurse and volunteered her services during World War II, which inspired her to become a doctor. She earned her bachelor’s degree in science from UCLA in the late 1940s and graduated from medical school at the University of Rome in the early 1950s.

Dr. Romie returned to the United States and opened her practice at her Canoga Park house. She later tore down the house and built an office on the property.

In 1962 she adopted a son, Leonard, at time when unmarried men and women were not commonly selected to be adoptive parents, said a spokeswoman with the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services. Four years later, she adopted a second son, Jerry, whom she had delivered.

She is also survived by her brothers Anthony Romeo of Augusta, Ga., and Frank Romie of Oxnard; a sister, Mary Artisti of Sharpsburg, Pa.; and a grandson.

A funeral service is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at Chapel of the Oaks, Oakwood Memorial Park, 22601 Lassen St., Chatsworth. Burial will follow at the same location. Gates, Kingsley & Gates Funeral Directors is handling the arrangements.