Erma Bombeck

by Jan

Here's another favorite. I remember reading her columns and laughing so hard that tears would flow! She was a woman who started out with the whole traditional setting of marriage, family, etc., but found out that there was so much more to life and enabled my generation to see this too. I have read all her books and still have many of her columns in my scrapbook. I really miss this woman!

Courtesy of Biography.com

"Humorist, author. Born in Dayton, Ohio. America's first lady of household humor, Bombeck turned her views of daily life in the suburbs into satirical newspaper columns and 14 best-selling books, including 'I Lost Everything in the Post Natal Depression(1973),' 'The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank(1976),' and 'If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?(1978).'

"Bombeck began a career in journalism after graduating from the University of Dayton, but left the paper in 1953 to start a family with husband Bill. Once her children were of school age, Bombeck convinced the editor of a local paper to let her produce a column. The result, a weekly column called At Wit's End, was syndicated within a year and was eventually published in 700 papers across the country.

"In 1993, Bombeck's kidneys failed as a result of the polycistic kidney disease she was diagnosed with at age 20. In 1996, Bombeck died from complications arising from a failed kidney transplant."