Author was a champion for the written word

Published 10:38 pm Saturday, April 25, 2009

The world’s largest flea was found near Puyallup in 1913, measuring more than a tenth of an inch long.

That was the sort of nugget that fascinated author Ann Miller Saling of Edmonds.

In one of her many books, “Our Superlative Pacific Northwest Unique Claims to Fame,” she wrote about items that were the smallest, biggest or most unusual.

Her daughter, Marilyn Saling Hill, said she remembers particular sounds of her childhood — the “click click” of a manual typewriter and the bell that went off at the end of each typed line.

“Mother wrote until 1 or 2 in the morning,” Hill said. “She was addicted to putting words on paper. A ‘wordsmith.’ I heard that word is no longer cool, but that’s what she was. It fits.”

Wheels always turning, jotting ideas on tiny slips of paper, Ann Saling not only wrote several books, she created the Write on the Sound Conference in 1986, a gathering for writers. She spoke at her own session called Style and Structure in Article Writing.

Frances White Chapin, cultural services manager for the city of Edmonds, said Saling wrote about the craft of writing and published several anthologies.

“Ann had tremendous drive and energy and continued to participate on the Write on the Sound steering committee long after her tenure as an Edmonds Arts Commissioner,” Chapin said. “She presented a workshop called Seven Steps to Style at the 1998 conference. She was honored a few years ago at the conference for her role as founder.”

Ann Miller Saling died on March 5. She had Alzheimer’s disease for several years, her daughter said.

Born in Oakland, Calif. on Feb. 22, 1921, she was class valedictorian, graduated with honors from the University of California at Berkeley, and received her master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Washington.

She traveled the world with her husband, retired Navy commander Fred Saling. The Navy family moved 23 times, spending periods from six months to two years in such posts Chile and Brazil. Saling was fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

She is survived by her husband; her daughter and son, Rick Saling; sister Ruth Craig; five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Ann Saling published some 300 articles and essays. She loved humor and nature. Her work appeared in 45 magazines or newspapers.

For eight years she was on the writing staff of Pacific Search, a monthly nature magazine, and also wrote regularly for Plants Alive, Washington Wine Style and feature sections in The Herald. She won more than 40 awards from journalism organizations that included Press Women, Pen Woman, and Sigma Delta Chi.

The great cook, who had three dogs in a row named Bernardo, was a collector of the writing of others. She has bags and bags of newspaper clippings that will have to be sorted, her daughter said.

Waiting for a bus, Ann Saling would read a book. She was frugal with her money and her time.

“She flattened tin foil to reuse it,” Hill said. She would reuse cottage cheese containers.”

Yet her passion was writing.

She wrote her own obituary.

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.