The Emerson years: 1980-2012

Published Nov. 5, 1980 Arms raised triumphantly, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Emerson celebrated victory at Republican headquarters here Tuesday night. Emerson, a De Soto Republican, defeated U.S. Rep. Bill D. Burlison, Cape Girardeau, in the hotly contested 10th District congressional race. (Missourian archive photo by Fred Lynch)

Published Oct. 16, 1986 Former Missouri Cong. Richard Ichord, standing at podium, announced his endorsement for 8th District Republican Cong. Bill Emerson at a news conference Monday. Ichord, a Democrat who represented a large area of what is currently in the 8th District from 1961 to 1980, is co-chairman of Democrats For Emerson. Pictured from left were: A.C. "Dub" Riley, a member of the committee; former State Sen. Albert Spradling Jr., who served 25 years as a Democratic member of the Senate; Emerson's wife Jo Ann, and Cong. Emerson. (Missourian archive)

Published Oct. 23, 1986 Sen. Jack Danforth, left, visited Cape Girardeau Wednesday afternoon, talking about the important issues Congress recently addressed, and lending his support to Cong. Bill Emerson. (Missourian photo by Fred Lynch)

Published Oct. 23, 1986 Eighth District congressional candidates Bill Emerson, left, and Wayne Cryts debated the issues before a crowd of about 430 persons at the Concord Theatre in Cape Girardeau Wednesday night. The candidates differed greatly on a number of issues. (Missourian archive photo by Mark Sterkel)

Published Jan. 9, 1987 Eighth District Cong. Bill Emerson discussed the issues facing the 100th Congress. Emerson was the featured speaker at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee held at the Drury Lodge. (Missourian archive)

Published May 31, 1987 Congressmen Leon A. Panetta, D-Calif., and Bill Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, listened to testimony at a congressional subcommittee hearing in Sikeston, Mo. Jim Rotherham sat in the background. (Missourian archive photo by John Ramey)

Published Feb. 1, 1988 Cong. Bill Emerson, left, endorsed Bob Dole for president during a press conference this morning. Dole spoke to the gathering from Washington over a speaker-phone. Also attending the news conference were, from left: Wendell Bailey, state treasurer and Missouri Dole campaign honorary co-chairman; Peter Myers Jr., co-chairman of the 8th Congressional District Dole campaign, and Gene Huckstep, district co-chairman. (Missourian archive)

Bill Emerson. (Photo taken at a news conference in Cape Girardeau in February 1988.)

Published May 16, 1988 Eighth District Cong. Bill Emerson addressed friends and supporters at the Farmington Regional Airport. Emerson made stops throughout the district to announce his bid for another term in Congress. Family members pictured from left were: daughter Tori, wife Jo Ann, Emerson, daughter Abby, and mother Marie Hahn. (Missourian archive)

President Ronald Reagan, the first sitting president to visit Cape Girardeau since President William Howard Taft in 1909, disembarked from Air Force One on Sept. 14, 1988, at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport. With him were Cong. Bill Emerson, front right; Sen. John Danforth, rear left, and Sen. Kit Bond, rear right. (Missourian archive photo by Fred Lynch)

President Ronald Reagan addressed an enthusiastic crowd at the Show Me Center on Sept. 14, 1988. Listening to his remarks were Jo Ann Emerson, Rep. Bill Emerson, Southeast Missouri State University President Dr. Bill Stacy, Student Government Association president Alison R. Sorenson, and Sen. John Danforth. (Missourian archive)

Bill Emerson stood with his family during the 1988 congressional campaign. (Missourian archive)

Published Dec. 1, 1988 Cong. Bill Emerson is preparing for his fifth term as U.S. Representative of the 8th District. He says Congress has several methods to control and reduce the federal debt with less spending, not increased taxes, being the answer. (Missourian archive photo by Fred Lynch)

Bill Emerson, 1988.

Published March 19, 1989 Cong. Bill Emerson announced that he would be making two congressional committee trips soon, one to Ethiopia and Sudan, and the other to Geneva, Switzerland. (Missourian archive)

Congressman Bill Emerson tried his hand at "fishing" with a ping-pong ball at Homecomers in 1989. (Fred Lynch photo)

In this undated photograph, Bill Emerson talked with constituents outside his mobile office. (Missourian archive)

Published Nov. 6, 1988 U.S. Secretary of the Interior Donald P. Hodel, left, and Cong. Bill Emerson spoke to the press Friday at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport. (Missourian archive photo by Fred Lynch)

Published Feb. 29, 1988 U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson announces at a press conference here today that he will be among members of a trade delegation to Geneva, Switzerland, where talks on trade will be held with European Community and Japanese Representatives (Missourian archive)

Bill Emerson, 1990.

Published Nov. 6, 1992 U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson spoke to reporters at the Federal Building Thursday, Nov. 5, 1992. Emerson, who was re-elected to a seventh term Tuesday, said that President-elect Bill Clinton will not have an easy time dealing with a Democratic Congress because of "coalition politics." (Missourian archive photo by Fred Lynch)

Bill Emerson, 1995.

Jo Ann Emerson announced in Cape Girardeau Wednesday, July 10, 1996 that she will run as an independent candidate for the 8th Congressional District seat of her late husband, Bill Emerson. Three of her four daughters were with her, from left, Liz Moir, Tori Emerson and Katharine Emerson. (Missourian archive photo by Fred Lynch)

Charlton Heston spoke with Jo Ann Emerson at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Oct. 2, 1996 before a fundraiser for Emerson's congressional campaign. (Southeast Missourian-Lou Peukert)

Jo Ann Emerson, center, cheered with friends and family, from left, Abby Emerson, Tori Emerson, Marie Hahn, Kacky Garner and Sally Pool as they watched election results at home Nov. 5, 1996 in Cape Girardeau. (Southeast Missourian - Lou Peukert)

Southeast Missourian Nov. 10, 1996 Jo Ann Emerson listened to vote tallies on election night with her youngest daughter, Katharine. (Southeast Missourian - Lou Peukert)

Southeast Missourian Nov. 10, 1996 Jo Ann Emerson sits in her 8th District congressional office in the Cape Girardeau Federal Building. She prefers not to sit behind the desk. (Southeast Missourian - Lou Peukert)

Jo Ann Emerson, 1997.

Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson talked with Dr. Georganne Syler at the Empowering Women seminar March 12, 2001 at Southeast Missouri State University. (Southeast Missourian/Stephan Frazier)

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson found the heart of the dairy business as she kicked off her annual agriculture tour Aug. 9, 2001 at the Jerry Siemers farm west of Cape Girardeau. (Southeast Missourian/Fred Lynch)

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson worked on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge in Cape Girardeau on Monday, Jan. 14, 2002. This week, she and her staff performed various jobs in the area to learn more about the needs of Missouri's working men and women. (Photo by Joel Ray)

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson cut the ceremonial cable to officially open the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge Dec. 13, 2003 in Cape Girardeau. Nearby were U.S. Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond, left, David Phelps with the Illinois Department of Transportation, and the Emerson family. (Fred Lynch)

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, right, and Federal Judge Lewis Blanton admired the view from the top floor of the new United States Courthouse currently under construction in Cape Girardeau, Thursday, March 31, 2005. (Don Frazier)

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, left, accepts a painting of the Bill Emerson mural panel from Tim Blattner, president of the River Heritage Mural Association, center, and Chicago artist Tom Melvin during Cape Girardeau's Mural Dedication ceremonies held Thursday, July 7, 2005. (Don Frazier)

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson speaks at the dedication ceremony for the Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr. Federal Courthouse on Monday, Oct. 6, 2008 in Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson talks to the crowd before introducing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on Oct. 30, 2008 at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Missouri 8th District candidates, from left, Larry Bill, Tommy Sowers, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and Rick Vandeven participate in the second of four debates Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010 at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh announces at a news conference Monday, May 2, 2011 that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will activate the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway starting at 9 p.m. Col. Vernie Reichling Jr., center, also spoke. At right is U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson. (Fred Lynch)

Grant Gillard uses a smoker to help calm honey bees in the hive body at his Jackson, Mo. bee farm Friday morning, Aug. 19, 2011 as U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson observes as part of her annual Emerson Farm Tour. (Laura Simon)

U.S. Rep Jo Ann Emerson mingles at a gun show Saturday, July 21, 2012 in Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)