She was witty and brave.
I was glad to see the Times include my favorite Dear Abby advice ever:
I loved that, too.
What I think is interesting is that by all accounts (with no citations), “Dear Abby” comes across as much more witty and a better writer than “Ann Landers.”
I’m not saying it’s true. Maybe she had a better publicity machine. But it sure seems that way.
This morning I read her niece’s column, Dear Margo, which comes out each Thursday. It’s strange that this week she mentioned her 95 year old aunt who has been suffering from Alzheimer’s since the early nineties.
I always enjoyed reading Dear Abby; it was the first thing I turned to after the comics when I started reading the newspaper daily when I was nine or ten.
John Prine’s “Dear Abby” song: John Prine - Dear Abby (Old Grey Whistle 1973) - YouTube
Chalk up another one in the “Thought she was already dead” column. Or was that Ann Landers? I never could keep them straight.
I thought she was long dead as well, like that guy who does the endless movie intros on TCM.
I started a similar thread (and asked for it to be closed, as this thread has more traction), but just wanted to repeat what I said on my thread:
I was fortunate to get to meet her on a couple of occasions in LA - she was a very sweet, down-to-earth woman who was also quite supportive of the Gay Community and many of the AIDS organizations/foundations back then.
Her daughter, Jeanne, has been writing the Dear Abby column for several years now, but Dear Abby was certainly one of those iconic columns you could count as a guilty pleasure back in the day.
Yes, Ann Landers died first, in 2002.
I have a book somewhere called The Best of Dear Abby. My favorite:
“My boyfriend’s birthday is coming soon. What do you think he’d like?”
“Never mind what he’d like. Get him a tie.” 
(This was from the 1950’s, I believe.)