Erma Bombeck facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Erma Bombeck
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Erma Bombeck
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| Born | Erma Louise Fiste February 21, 1927 Bellbrook, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | April 22, 1996 (aged 69) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Humorist, syndicated columnist, writer |
| Education | University of Dayton |
| Years active | 1965–1996 |
| Spouse | Bill Bombeck (m. 1949) |
| Children | 3 |
Erma Louise Bombeck (born Fiste; February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was a famous American humor writer. She was very popular for her newspaper column that talked about everyday life in the suburbs. This column was shared in many newspapers from 1965 until she passed away in 1996. Erma Bombeck also wrote fifteen books, and most of them became bestsellers.
Between 1965 and 1996, Erma Bombeck wrote over four thousand newspaper columns. She used funny and clever humor to describe the normal life of a housewife in the Midwest. By the 1970s, about 30 million people read her columns twice a week in 900 newspapers across the United States and Canada. Her writing gives a funny look at middle-class family life in America after World War II.
Contents
Erma Bombeck's Early Life
Erma Fiste was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, into a working-class family. She grew up in Dayton, Ohio. Her father worked as a crane operator for the city. Erma lived with her older half-sister, Thelma.
She started elementary school a year early in 1932. Erma was a great student and loved to read. She especially enjoyed books by popular humor writers of her time. After her father died in 1936, Erma and her mother moved in with her grandmother. Her mother remarried in 1938 to Albert Harris. Erma also learned tap dance and singing. She worked for a local radio station on a children's show for eight years.
Her School Years and First Jobs
In 1940, Erma went to Emerson Junior High School. There, she started writing a funny column for the school newspaper called The Owl. In 1942, she went to Parker (now Patterson) Vocational High School. She wrote a more serious column there, but still added humor.
That same year, she began working at the Dayton Herald as a copygirl. She shared this full-time job with a friend. In 1944, she got her first big writing assignment. She interviewed the famous child star Shirley Temple, who was visiting Dayton. This interview became a special feature in the newspaper.
After finishing high school in 1944, Erma wanted to go to college. For a year, she worked as a typist and stenographer for the Dayton Herald and other companies. She also did small writing jobs like obituaries for the newspaper. With the money she earned, Erma enrolled in Ohio University in 1946. However, she struggled with her writing classes and was not accepted into the university newspaper. She left after one semester because she ran out of money.
Erma later enrolled in the University of Dayton, a Catholic college. She lived at home and worked at Rike's, a department store. There, she wrote funny material for the company newsletter. She also had two other part-time jobs. One was as an accountant for a termite control company. The other was in public relations at the local YMCA. While in college, her English professor, Bro. Tom Price, told Erma she had a great future as a writer. She then started writing for the university's student newspaper, The Exponent.
She graduated in 1949 with a degree in English. Erma stayed connected with the university throughout her life, helping financially and participating in events. In 1987, she became a lifetime trustee of the university. In 1949, she changed her religion to Catholicism. She married Bill Bombeck, who was also a student at the University of Dayton and a veteran of World War II. Bill later became an educator and school supervisor. Erma remained active in her church for the rest of her life.
Becoming a Housewife and Columnist
Life as a Housewife (1954–1964)
Doctors told the Bombecks it would be hard for them to have children. So, in 1953, they adopted a girl named Betsy. Erma decided to become a full-time housewife and stopped her career as a journalist for a while. However, in 1954, she still wrote some funny columns for the Dayton Shopping News.
Despite what the doctors had said, Erma gave birth to her first son, Andrew, in 1956. Her second son, Matthew, was born in 1958. In 1959, the Bombeck family moved to Centerville, Ohio. They lived in a new housing development and were neighbors with the famous TV host Phil Donahue. Erma Bombeck's home was later added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
"At Wit's End" Column (1965)
Erma Bombeck started writing again for the local Kettering-Oakwood Times in 1964. She wrote weekly columns and earned $3 for each. She wrote in her small bedroom at home. The next year, the Dayton Journal Herald also asked her to write new funny columns. Erma agreed to write two 450-word columns each week for $50.
After just three weeks, her articles became nationally syndicated. This meant they were shared through the Newsday Newspaper Syndicate to 36 big newspapers across the U.S. She wrote three weekly columns under the title "At Wit's End."
Erma Bombeck quickly became a popular humor writer all over the country. Starting in 1966, she began giving talks in different cities where her columns appeared. In 1967, her newspaper columns were collected and published as a book called At Wit's End. After a funny appearance on Arthur Godfrey's radio show, she became a regular guest on his program.
Growing Success and Other Projects
Becoming a Household Name (1970s)
Aaron Priest, who worked for the publisher Doubleday, became Erma Bombeck's agent. By 1969, five hundred U.S. newspapers were publishing her "At Wit's End" columns. She also started writing for popular magazines like Good Housekeeping, Reader's Digest, Family Circle, Redbook, McCall's, and Teen. Erma and her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to a beautiful home on a hilltop in Paradise Valley.
By 1978, 900 U.S. newspapers were publishing Bombeck's column, showing how widely read she had become.
Best-Selling Books
In 1976, the publisher McGraw-Hill released Erma Bombeck's book, The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank. This book quickly became a bestseller. In 1978, Bombeck signed a big contract for her fifth book, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?. She also received a large advance payment for her next book, Aunt Erma's Cope Book (1979).
Television Appearances
Television producer Bob Shanks invited Erma Bombeck to join ABC's Good Morning America. She was on the show from 1975 until 1986. She started by giving short commentaries, which were filmed in Phoenix. Later, she did funny segments and serious interviews.
For several years, Erma Bombeck worked on many writing and TV projects. In 1978, she tried to create a television pilot (a test episode) for a TV show based on her book The Grass Is Always Greener for CBS. In 1981, Bombeck wrote and produced her own show called Maggie for ABC. However, it was not successful and only aired for four months. Bombeck was becoming very busy, often traveling from Los Angeles to Phoenix only on weekends. She was offered another chance to make a sitcom, but she decided not to.
Supporting Equal Rights
In 1978, Erma Bombeck became involved with the Presidential Advisory Committee for Women. She especially supported the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) with the help of the ERA America organization. The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed change to the U.S. Constitution. It aimed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. It sought to end legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters.
Bombeck faced some criticism for her support of the ERA. Some stores in the U.S. even stopped selling her books because of her stance. The ERA was proposed by the United States Congress in 1972. Congress set a seven-year deadline for states to approve it. To become part of the Constitution, at least three-fourths of the states needed to ratify (approve) it. By the deadline, 35 states had ratified it, which was three states short of the requirement. Erma Bombeck was disappointed that it did not pass.
Continued Popularity (1980s)
By 1985, Erma Bombeck's three weekly columns were being published in 900 newspapers in the United States and Canada. Her columns were also collected into a series of best-selling books. She also appeared twice a week on Good Morning America. Bombeck was part of the American Academy of Humor Columnists, along with other famous humor writers. During the 1980s, Erma Bombeck earned between $500,000 and $1 million each year.
She was chosen as the grand marshal for the 97th Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1, 1986. The parade's theme that year was "A Celebration of Laughter."
Later Life and Passing
Erma Bombeck was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease when she was twenty years old. This is a genetic condition that affects the kidneys. She also survived breast cancer and had a mastectomy (surgery to remove breast tissue). For a long time, she kept her kidney disease a secret, and she had to undergo daily hemodialysis (a treatment that cleans the blood when kidneys fail). She finally shared her condition with the public in 1993.
After being on a waiting list for a kidney transplant for years, one of her kidneys had to be removed, and the other stopped working. On April 3, 1996, she received a kidney transplant. Sadly, she passed away on April 22, 1996, at the age of 69, due to complications from the operation. Her remains are buried in the Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio. She was survived by her husband, Bill Bombeck, and their three children.
Erma Bombeck's Books
- At Wit's End, 1967.
- Just Wait Until You Have Children of Your Own, 1971. (Written with Bil Keane)
- I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression, 1974.
- The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank, 1976.
- If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?, 1978.
- Aunt Erma's Cope Book, 1979.
- Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession, 1983.
- Family — The Ties That Bind... and Gag!, 1987.
- I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to Grow Up, I Want to Go to Boise: Children Surviving Cancer, 1989. (Profits from this book were given to health organizations.)
- When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time to Go Home, 1991.
- A Marriage Made in Heaven... or Too Tired for an Affair, 1993.
- All I Know about Animal Behavior I learned in Loehmann's Dressing Room, 1995.
- Forever, Erma: Best-Loved Writing from America's Favorite Humorist, 1996.
Erma Bombeck's Legacy
The Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop began in 2000 at the University of Dayton. It was first planned as a one-time event to honor the Bombeck family's gift of her writings to the university. However, the event was so popular that it has been held every other year since then.
This two-day workshop includes main speakers and smaller sessions. These sessions cover topics like humor writing, writing about human interest, the publishing process, marketing for authors, and blogging. Famous past speakers include Dave Barry and Phil Donahue. More than 350 writers from all over the country attend each workshop, which takes place on the University of Dayton campus.
In 2004, a University of Dayton alumnus (former student) named Ralph Hamberg and his wife, Cindy, donated $100,000. This money started a fund for the workshop in memory of Erma's cousin, Tom Price. He was the English professor who told Bombeck, "You can write!" This fund helps keep the workshop affordable for writers. Also, the University of Dayton's Alumni Association helps pay for scholarships. These scholarships allow University of Dayton students to attend the workshop for free.
The workshop has also led to other projects. These include a blog called Humorwriters.org, a documentary, an international writing competition, and an Ohio historical marker on the university's campus. There is also a monthly email newsletter, a Facebook page, a Twitter feed, and an active online discussion group.
In 2006, the workshop created the world's longest Mad Lib. In 2010, CBS Sunday Morning With Charles Osgood aired a Mother's Day tribute to Bombeck, using the workshop as a background. In 2013, AAA Journeys magazine wrote about Dayton's literary history. It highlighted the University of Dayton's efforts to keep Bombeck's memory alive through the workshop named after her. In 2014, Parade magazine featured several articles about the workshop and Bombeck's lasting appeal.
One of her works about her stepfather, Albert Harris, called "Father's Love," has been translated into Chinese. It is used as one of the sixty passages for oral reading in China's Putonghua Proficiency Test.
Awards and Honors
- 1978, Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement
- 1978, Honorary Doctor of Letters, Rosary College
- 1980, Ohio Women's Hall of Fame
- 2018, Arizona Women's Hall of Fame
