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By Patricia Wynn Brown

He made me feel the same way Gregory Peck, playing Atticus Finch, made me feel when I first saw the movie To Kill a Mockingbird. That feeling: affirmation. Affirmation, because when Bill Bombeck opened with remarks at the first Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, he spoke so intelligently, and hilariously, and supportively about the success of his wife and the effects of it all on his family. Erma must have felt that affirmation, too.

Bill Bombeck, Erma's husband, and father to Betsy, Andy and Matt, father-in-law to Shari and Jackie, and grandfather to Eva and Michael, died Jan. 12 at 8:30 am. His family surrounded him in his final hours, and in true Bombeck fashion, among the tears, there were even a few precious last laughs together.

I was an attendee at the very first Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop in 2000 and have played a role in it every year since. After Mr. Bombeck spoke at the first conference I walked up and introduced myself to him and told him I was a writer. He told me the secret of success was to keep at it, keep working, and write about my own view and not to try to be anyone else. He spoke directly to me as though he had all the time in the world to encourage an unknown writer, even though everyone in the auditorium wanted to congratulate him and offer their own bids for his attentions.

At a later conference, I did a keynote humor memoir performance of my Hair Theater show, and Mr. Bombeck came up to me afterward and told me he loved what I did and wanted a picture with me. I felt like a movie star to hear such nice compliments and to receive this kind of attention from this good man.

In the meantime I got to know Bill and his kids Betsy, Andy, Matt, their families and Bill's office assistant, Norma Born. Their kindness, caring and humor over the years in my various roles at the workshops have been a gift from the heavens above. That sense of affirmation emanates from the whole clan.

When conference creator and director Teri Rizvi asked me to become emcee of the conference, I knowingly and boldly abused my power and began unabashedly campaigning, from the podium, to be adopted by the Bombecks. Post a petition signed by attendees, cooked up by Louise Lucas at the 2014 conference, my wish finally was granted.

Arriving at my home right before the 2016 conference was a large manila envelope postmarked "Arizona" and inside was an "adoption certificate" signed by Bill Bombeck. I framed it and placed it on my office wall between photographs of Bobby Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn.

Bobby Kennedy said, "One person can make a difference." Bill Bombeck did that for me.

Our workshop theme song is one that Bill Bombeck told me some years ago was one of Erma's favorites. It is, "Our Love is Here to Stay."

And it is, for Erma and for Bill.

— Patricia Wynn Brown

Pat Wynn Brown is a performer, producer and author of two books, Hair-A-Baloo: The Revealing Comedy and Tragedy on Top of Your Head and Momma Culpa: One Mother Comes Clean and Makes Her Maternal Confession.