Oralee Abrams Kiewit, longtime resident of the Malibu Colony, died on Dec. 28, 2019, at her home, one day short of her 100th birthday. Oralee was born on December 27th, 1919 in Long Beach, Calif. Oralee married Ralph Kiewit in 1947. Ralph owned his own construction company, building Southern California landmarks including the Union Bank building in Sherman Oaks and the Shorecliff Towers in Santa Monica, as well as the San Souci in Waikiki and Hotel Bora Bora in French Polynesia.Â
Oralee made her own mark as a noted painter in the plein air tradition, depicting the California landscape she loved, especially the Central Coast from Malibu to Point Conception.Â
Oralee survived Ralph, who died in 2013, and her and Ralph’s only child, John S. Kiewit, who died in 2000. After John’s death, Oralee and Ralph established the John S. Kiewit Memorial Foundation, dedicated to conserving the natural and rural integrity of the Central California Coast that both parents and son so treasured.Â
Oralee would welcome any remembrance in appreciation of her life to be donated to the Kiewit Memorial Fund, c/o Price, Postel & Parma LLP, Attn. David W. van Horne, PO Box 99, Santa Barbara, CA 93102.