Born on 15 October 1897, Louise Welter passed three medical examinations: general medicine, surgery and childbirth assistance, and in November 1923 she obtained her medical degree. Louise Welter was the first woman doctor in Luxembourg, as published in the Luxemburger Wort on 26 November 1923.
In July 1926, she became the school doctor for the City of Luxembourg. The newly created post was still a work in progress. In her first report in 1927, Louise Welter denounced the deplorably dirty state of the children in the slums of Pfaffenthal, Clausen, Eich and Weimerskirch. In addition to improvements in housing, Louise Welter demanded two weekly showers for each child instead of the monthly shower.
She also introduced orthopaedic gymnastics classes. The doctor offers open-air schools and organises cures for the children. From vaccination to child malnutrition, Louise Welter fought on all fronts. She became a member of the "Werk der Ferienkolonien" of the city of Luxembourg in 1938.
From 1932 onwards, she lived in Rue J.P. Brasseur in Belair, Luxembourg City. In 1947, she married the Hungarian-born merchant Etienne Gombos, twenty years her junior.
Louise Welter died in 1999.
Sources:
● FEALU - Exhibition Women Pioneers of Entrepreneurship
● Escher Tageblatt of 13 July 1938
● Mit den Aeskulap Stab - Ons Stad N°98, pp. 22-26