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Carol Jean Emerson
CAROL JOAN EMERSON
Cedar Rapids
Carol Joan Emerson (nee Hansen) died on Feb. 26, 2021, at Olathe Medical Center, in Olathe, Kan., after a brief illness. She was 86.
Born on Aug. 28, 1934, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Holger Hansen and Sophia (Kuncl) Hansen, she was the fourth 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, Kan.; three sisters, Marjorie Fraenkel of San Francisco, Rosemary Soukup of Papillion, Neb., and Susan Maybanks of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and her grandchildren, Sophia and Nate, of whom she was very proud.
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