THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 TAG: 9604230010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Erma Bombeck - the wisecracking antidote to Martha Stewart - died yesterday of complications related to a kidney transplant earlier this month.
The syndicated humorist will be mourned by millions of readers who laughed with the housewife-turned-columnist in her twice-weekly dispatches from the suburbs.
Unlike Stewart, who preaches the gospel of perfection and makes mortals feel inadequate, Bombeck portrayed herself as a wildly imperfect person: She reigned over a messy house, gave birth to flawed children, lived with a sloppy husband, had a weight problem, shopped at Loehmann's and suffered through a host of everyday maladies that struck a resounding chord with the hoi polloi.
Few women felt inadequate when comparing themselves with Erma Bombeck.
Bombeck aimed her humor at herself, her family and other ``ordinary'' people. Musing about the success of ``The Bridges of Madison County,'' she declared that women all over the country were fantasizing about their husbands taking the children to a fair, and they were hiding bottles of wine near the bleach in preparation for the fateful day: ``The other day an exterminator knocked on my door asking for directions, and I wondered, `Is this the one?' '' she wrote.
But little was ordinary about this popular columnist.
The Ohio housewife began typing her column in 1965. Thirty-one years and many dollars later, she was still writing wryly about the travails of the little people, in prose so clear you could smell the burnt toast and athletic socks.
``I can't let go of being a housewife,'' Bombeck once said. ``You have to be part of it or you don't know what you're talking about. You've got to empty the garbage, swish out the toilet bowls. Doing the laundry keeps you humble.''
Bombeck's column first appeared in the Dayton (Ohio) Journal Herald, where she was paid $3 per piece.
Soon her column was in syndication, and by the time she died, Bombeck was a feature in 700 newspapers nationwide.
Erma Bombeck's passing is a great loss for those ordinary people who like to laugh. There are hundreds of columnists in syndication, but no one else has ever combined such wit, wisdom and warmth. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MS. BOMBECK
by CNB