Carol Joan Emerson

Carol Joan Emerson (née Hansen) died on February 26 at Olathe Medical Center, in Olathe, Kansas after a brief illness. She was 86.

Born on August 28, 1934 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Holger Hansen and Sophia (Kuncl) Hansen, she was the 4th of seven daughters and a graduate of St. Wenceslaus High School. In 1954 she married Ronald Emerson of Toledo, Iowa and moved there to begin a family, later moving to Grinnell, Iowa. For many years she worked as a Library Aide at the Iowa Statehouse in Des Moines. She is remembered as outgoing, kindly and a tireless volunteer for the Democratic Party.

Carol was preceded in death by her husband and her daughter, Melissa Emerson. She is survived by two sons, Michael Emerson (Carrie Preston) of New York City and Patrick Emerson (Diana Owen) of Olathe, KS; three sisters, Marjorie Fraenkel of San Francisco, Rosemary Soukup of Papillion, NE and Susan Maybanks of Cedar Rapids, IA; and her grandchildren, Sophia and Nate, of whom she was very proud.