139.766.6

The first baby born at the new Mary Greeley Hospital was thought to be Marion Addison Olinger, the son of Lettie Laurene Hawkes Olinger and Howard Clayton Olinger of Nevada, Iowa. Marion was born on December 3, 1916, before the hospital had been officially dedicated. About two years later, Marion posed with his mother outside the original hospital building at Twelfth Street and Douglas Avenue. When Marion grew up he married Lola Fern Smith, sister of Ames local history maven, Irene Smith Crippen. (Coincidentally, Fern Smith, suffering from spinal meningitis and pneumonia, was also hospitalized in the new hospital as an infant in 1917.) Marion was delivered by Dr. Clarence A. Aplin, who with his wife Clara lived at 515 Douglas Avenue, site of the 1985 addtion to the Ames Public Library. (See also: 139.767.1-3)