erma bombeck

Erma Bombeck biography: a life of humor

Erma Bombeck had one of the longest running columns in newspaper history. At the same time, she battled breast cancer and a deadly kidney disorder.

Erma Louise (Harris) Bombeck was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1927. Her father, a crane operator, died of a stroke when Erma was just 9-years old, leaving the family in near-poverty like conditions after their home and furniture were repossessed by the bank.

At the age of 20, Bombeck was diagnosed with polycistic kidney disease, a hereditary disorder which causes cysts to form on the kidneys. Told that she would one day suffer kidney failure, Erma went on with her life, destined not to be controlled by her disease. Erma enrolled in the University of Dayton during her sophomore year after attending Ohio University for her first year of college. . Longing to be a journalist, Erma was told by professors that she would never succeed in writing. Hoping to prove them wrong,