John Gould (columnist)


John Thomas Gould was an American humorist, essayist, and columnist who wrote a column for the Christian Science Monitor for over sixty years from a farm in Lisbon Falls, Maine. He was published in most major American newspapers and magazines and wrote thirty books.

Early life

Gould was born in Brighton, Massachusetts to Franklin Farrar Gould and Hilda Dobson Jenkins. After his birth the family moved to nearby Medford. When Gould was ten years old his family, which then included three children, moved to Freeport, Maine. Gould was responsible for farm chores before and after school, but his father stressed the importance of his education. His family subscribed to The Youth's Companion, the Rural New Yorker and The Boston Post, all of which published materials submitted by young Gould.

Education

In 1924, as a sophomore in high school, he offered to be a reporter for the Brunswick Record, and following an encouraging reply from the editor, began submitting news items and was thus gainfully employed with the Record until 1940. He was also writing as a stringer for other newspapers and as a result became a featured writer for the Boston Sunday Post.
Having graduated from Bowdoin College in 1931, on his 24th birthday he married Dorothy Florence Wells of Arlington, Massachusetts. After their honeymoon they made their home in Brunswick, Maine, where Gould resumed writing for the Brunswick Record and his wife became the newspaper's household editor. A few years later, the couple purchased the Gould family farm in Lisbon Falls, where they would make their home for over thirty years.

Career

Gould began writing a weekly column for the Christian Science Monitor and wrote his first book in 1940. The Monitor syndicated his column and he was published in all major magazines and many newspapers in the United States. For five years he did a daily radio show for WLAM in Lewiston, Maine and a weekly show for WBZ in Boston. He was also a frequent contributor of taped features for the Trans-Canada English network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In addition, he was the editor and publisher of the Lisbon Enterprise, a weekly newspaper, published in Lisbon Falls. Gould appeared as himself on the January 20, 1964 episode of To Tell the Truth. He fooled three of the contestants, who believed another contestant was actually Gould.

Published books