Original 'Dear Abby' Columnist Pauline Phillips Dies At 94

By Samantha Abernethy in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 17, 2013 8:40PM

Pauline Friedman Phillips, the founder of the "Dear Abby" advice column, died Wednesday at 94.

The Phillips sisters were natives of Sioux City, Iowa, and her twin sister Eppie took over as Ann Landers for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1955. Eppie sent Pauline some letters to help her pen the advice column, and the two butt heads over style.

One day, Pauline called the San Francisco Chronicle to say she was better than their advice columnist. The New York Times writes:

If only to get rid of her, the editor handed her a stack of back issues, telling her to compose her own replies to the letters in the advice column. She did so in characteristic style and dropped off her answers at the paper. She arrived home to a ringing telephone. The job was hers — at $20 a week

"Dear Abby" was quickly syndicated nationally, and "Abby" didn't speak to "Ann Landers" for years. Phillips' daughter Jeanne Phillips joined her in writing the "Dear Abby" column in 1987, and Jeanne took over altogether in 2000 as Pauline fought Alzheimer's disease.

Here is a delightfully pithy piece of her advice from 1973.

DEAR ABBY: We are two girls who are having a big argument. She's 17 and I'm 18. She's a virgin and I'm not, and she says a guy can tell whether a girl is a virgin or not by the way she walks. I say a girl doesn't walk any differently after she's gone all the way with a guy than she did before. We'll be looking for your answer. — Waiting in Colorado

DEAR WAITING: You can't tell if a girl is a virgin by the way she walks. But you can sometimes tell by the way she TALKS.

Good burn, Abby.