# RIP Dear Abby **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-dear-abby/647576 "2013-01-18T02:11:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-dear-abby/647576/1 "2013-01-18T02:11:31Z")
She was witty and brave. > [@](#): > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/business/media/pauline-phillips-flinty-adviser-to-millions-as-dear-abby-dies-at-94.html?pagewanted=1&\_r=0&hp](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/business/media/pauline-phillips-flinty-adviser-to-millions-as-dear-abby-dies-at-94.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&hp) > > Pauline Phillips, a California housewife who nearly 60 years ago, seeking something more meaningful than mah-jongg, transformed herself into the syndicated columnist Dear Abby — and in so doing became a trusted, tart-tongued adviser to tens of millions — died on Wednesday in Minneapolis. She was 94. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-dear-abby/647576/2 "2013-01-18T03:28:53Z")
I was glad to see the Times include my favorite Dear Abby advice ever: > [@](#): > > Dear Abby: Two men who claim to be father and adopted son just bought an old mansion across the street and fixed it up. We notice a very suspicious mixture of company coming and going at all hours — blacks, whites, Orientals, women who look like men and men who look like women. This has always been considered one of the finest sections of San Francisco, and these weirdos are giving it a bad name. How can we improve the neighborhood? — Nob Hill Residents > > Dear Residents: You could move. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-dear-abby/647576/3 "2013-01-18T03:59:57Z")
> [@MilTan](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-dear-abby/647576/4 "2013-01-18T05:07:17Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-dear-abby/647576/5 "2013-01-18T05:12:10Z")
John Prine’s “Dear Abby” song: [John Prine - Dear Abby (Old Grey Whistle 1973) - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2ccC4aULow) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-dear-abby/647576/6 "2013-01-18T15:16:53Z")
Chalk up another one in the “Thought she was already dead” column. Or was that Ann Landers? I never could keep them straight. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-dear-abby/647576/7 "2013-01-18T16:07:23Z")
I thought she was long dead as well, like that guy who does the endless movie intros on TCM. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-dear-abby/647576/8 "2013-01-18T16:55:51Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-dear-abby/647576/9 "2013-01-19T17:05:54Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Chalk up another one in the “Thought she was already dead” column. Or was that Ann Landers? I never could keep them straight. Yes, Ann Landers died first, in 2002. > **[Advice Columnist Ann Landers Dies](https://www.eonline.com/news/43480/advice-columnist-ann-landers-dies)** > > World's most famous advice columnist dies Saturday in Chicago at the age of 83; her column will end 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.)