Dr. Robert W. Ollayos was Elgin's first pediatric specialist

As a kid, going to see the doctor can be intimidating or downright scary.

But Dr. Robert W. Ollayos, Elgin's first pediatric specialist, helped put young patients at ease with his gentle demeanor and swapping the white coat with a colorful vest that coordinated with a coming holiday.

"I just thought it was a good idea," said Pat Wasmond, a nurse who founded Little Angels Nursing Home in Elgin and who sewed Ollayos the vests. "He had one for every holiday. The kids loved them."

Ollayos, who practiced in Elgin from 1948 through 1981, died Monday at a Missouri nursing home. He was 92.

After graduating Yale University and its medical school on a scholarship and serving as a flight surgeon in the Army Air Corps in World War II's Pacific Theater, he and his wife, Margaret, moved to Elgin from the East Coast.

Ollayos set up a practice in his Elgin home on Highland Avenue and also made the rounds at Sherman and St. Joseph hospitals.

He served as president of the medical staffs of both hospitals as well as the Kane County Medical Society.

Clare Ollayos, one of his daughters and an Elgin Community College trustee, said her father treated everyone, regardless of ethnicity or skin color.

"He was very approachable and available if people had questions. People felt comfortable with him. He really didn't wear the white coat in the office," she recalled. "Because he was on site, it made that balance (between work and family) a lot easier. But he did get a lot of calls at 10:30, 11 at night. He was very hearty and steady and balanced it all."

Clare Ollayos said her father drove an old Volkswagen Beetle and didn't care about status symbols.

Wasmond said Dr. Ollayos was kind, devoted and very generous with his time.

Wasmond said she asked Ollayos to be her volunteer medical director when she opened Little Angels in the late 1950s.

"He immediately agreed. He said, 'Don't worry about (money). Whatever you want to give me is fine,'" she recalled. "He was the most remarkable man I've ever known. There's isn't going to be another one like him, I can tell you that."

In his free time, Ollayos enjoyed fishing and listening to Mozart and other classical music.

A memorial service will he held at a later date this spring at St. Thomas More Church in Elgin, of which he was a founding member.

The family has requested that in lieu of flowers donations be made to Little Angels, 1435 Summit, Elgin, 60120.