The Reverend Dr. Robert Carol Emerson was born in Gloucester, Virginia on April 29, 1935, to Rebecca Oliver and William Emerson. His family moved to York County, Virginia where he went to Poquoson High School. After a long break after graduation, he got the call to be a minister and prepared for his professional career at Carson-Newman College, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and The Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. Upon his ordination, he served as the minister of Spring Hill Baptist Church in Cobbs Creek where his first son, Joseph Todd Emerson, was born. A few years later, he received a call to preach at DeBaun Memorial Baptist Church in Chesapeake. It was during this time where his second son, William Craig Emerson, was born. After a five-year ministry at his second church, he felt another vocation similar to the tentmakers and decided he would return to the family trade of brick masonry. After leaving DeBarun, he used his time to develop his theology a little deeper and wrote “Three Stages of Grace,’ and developed an interest in genealogy and wrote “The Life and Times of George and Rebecca Emerson.” In addition, he authored numerous essays about York County history, which resulted in the book “The History of Tabb in Retrospect,” and numerous other articles about the history of lower York County. In addition, he served a six-year stint as a guest political columnist for the “York Town Crier.” He is survived by Nancy Lee Palmer, his wife of 56 years, sons Joseph Todd Emerson and William Craig Emerson, daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Mary Zelenka Emerson, and grandsons Noah William Emerson and Daniel Stephen Emerson. He leaves a long line of extended family to cherish his memory and sense of humor, including an older brother, Sherwood Emerson of Poquoson. He requested the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul’ be played at his funeral. He wished everyone to know that he loved his life, and he loved his family.

A funeral service was held 11 a.m. Saturday, April 9th at Bethel Baptist Church in Yorktown. The burial will privately follow at a later time at Parklawn Memorial Park in Hampton, Virginia.

He made his transition on April 5, 2022.