[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 55 (Thursday, April 25, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ERMA BOMBECK: AN AMERICAN MODEL

                                 ______


                             HON. ED PASTOR

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 25, 1996

  Mr. PASTOR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in memory of Erma Bombeck, who 
passed away on April 23, 1996. Erma Bombeck, columnist, suburban 
housewife, and life philosopher shared her humor with America for 25 
years. Ms. Bombeck celebrated the day to day chaos and hysteria of 
suburban life in her syndicated column ``At Wits End.''
  Ms. Bombeck lives on in best selling books such as: ``The Grass Is 
Always Greener Over the Septic Tank,'' and ``If Life Is a Bowl of 
Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?'' A true humanist, in 1989 Ms. 
Bombeck wrote a touching tribute to children surviving cancer titled, 
``I Want To Grow Hair, I Want To Grow Up, I Want To Go To Boise.'' She 
then benevolently went on to donate her $1.5 million advance fee to 
cancer research, 3 years before she was diagnosed with the dreadful 
disease. After a bout with breast cancer, she was stricken with a fatal 
kidney disease. Although she received a kidney transplant in early 
April, she was unable to recover.
  As a resident of Arizona, we are proud that such a talented woman 
made her home in our beautiful State. Erma Bombeck will be remembered 
for bringing everyday life to a comedic artform. The columns, which are 
her legacy, will be proudly displayed for years to come in a place of 
honor all across America, the family refrigerator.

                          ____________________