Late Sedalia parishioner was a healthcare trailblazer
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Sedalia’s Lauretta Emerson (1928-2025) has been likened to Civil Rights pioneer Rosa Parks.
Both women took a stand for what’s right and just, clearing a path for those who would come after them.
“Mom has never, ever done anything for the accolades,” Mrs. Emerson’s daughter, Kay Palmer, insisted. “She’s always done things for her passion, for her desire to get the job done, to help someone else, to make someone else’s life better.”
Sedalia still had two hospitals when Mrs. Emerson arrived in 1951.
The 22-year-old, who’d be an active and devoted member of what is now St. Vincent de Paul Parish of Pettis County for the rest of her life, had just completed her nursing certification in Texas.
She applied for and was hired as an administrator and nurse at Sedalia’s City Hospital No. 2.
She didn’t know the hospital was only for Black people, nor that the conditions were substandard.
For a February 2021 story in the Sedalia Democrat newspaper, she recounted calling to tell her parents about what she’d gotten herself into.
“They told me to either stay and fight or come home,” she recalled. “I wanted to fight, so I stayed.”
She became the hospital’s superintendent and the only nurse on staff.
“I had to do everything,” she told the Democrat in 2021. “I made house calls, delivered babies at the hospital and at homes, treated wounds and overdoses, and assisted the doctors with surgeries. I even had to sterilize equipment in an oven because that’s all we had.”
She committed herself to providing patients with the best treatment and care possible under the circumstances.
“I was a nurse, and when we see someone in need, we have to help them,” she said in 2021. “I could not let people go without caring for them. I was raised to have more concern for others than myself.”
Special delivery
In time, the former Lauretta McDonald met and married lifelong Sedalia resident Pete Emerson.
They had four children.
Mrs. Emerson was pregnant with their third when she decided that her baby should not be born at City Hospital No. 2.
She and her physicians, Dr. Carl Siegel and Dr. Peter Siegel, agreed that she would present herself at what is now Bothwell Regional Health Center, right before giving birth.
State law prohibited hospitals from turning away any patient who was in active labor.
At 7:06 a.m. on Aug. 1, 1955, Mrs. Emerson’s daughter became the first Black baby to be born at the city’s formerly all-white hospital.
“They put her in the corner of the nursery,” Mrs. Emerson recalled. “But she was there.”
“By walking into Bothwell to have me, she put herself in the position to fight for better health care in a nonviolent way,” Mrs. Palmer told the Democrat in 2021.
“She never stops fighting for what is right, even if she has to stand alone,” the daughter continued. “She always had that type of vision, dedication and work ethic. ... She’s amazing and definitely one-of-a-kind.”
City Hospital No. 2 closed the following year and is now the site of Hubbard Park. A stone marker, placed in 2000, serves as a memorial to all the hospital’s patients and staff.
Mrs. Emerson spent the next 31 years as a Civil Service nurse at Whiteman Air Force Base, about 25 miles west of Sedalia.
“I’ve delivered babies all over town,” she told the Democrat in 2021. “Even today, I’d meet somebody and they will say, ‘Do you remember that you delivered me so many, many years ago?’
“In fact, somebody just mentioned, ‘Did you know that you delivered my son 50 years ago?’ she said. “And that was at Sacred Heart Church. I just cried.”
Pete Emerson, who died in 1996, served for many years as maintenance supervisor at Sacred Heart School in Sedalia.
Precious Blood Father Mark Miller — who was associate pastor of the former Sacred Heart Parish in Sedalia from 1970-77 and pastor of the Pettis County parishes from 2011-19 — recalled that the Emersons were the only Black family in the parish when he arrived.
“Pete was the crossing guard and knew every kid by name and would stay until the last kid went home,” said Fr. Miller.
“We didn’t have after-school care back then,” he said. “He would stay to make sure every kid got home before he’d go home. Everybody loved him.”
He was inducted posthumously into the Sacred Heart School Hall of Fame in 2019.
“Compete to win”
Mrs. Emerson rounded out her nursing career at Bothwell Regional.
She got elected to the Sedalia City Council in 1998 on a promise to represent the whole city, not just her ward.
“I certainly will work hard for the benefit of the community,” she told a reporter on Election Night.
She served on the council for 13 years.
In retirement, she devoted countless hours to charitable and community service, as a member of numerous boards and in many local organizations.
She kept her nursing certification up to date well into retirement.
On Aug. 8, 2024, friends, family, coworkers and government officials joined Mrs. Emerson in the lobby of Bothwell Regional for the unveiling of a photo and plaque to honor her impact on healthcare in Sedalia.
“We thank you for your determination, your motivation and your kindness,” said Bothwell Regional Health Center CEO Lori Wightman. “We shared your story today, and it will continue to be shared to all who walk through this hall at Bothwell.”
The plaque was presented by the Pettis County NAACP, Sedalia Business Women, and Bothwell Regional Health Center.
During the ceremony, Mrs. Emerson’s son, John, emphasized that in addition to everything she did for the community, she was an excellent mother to him and his siblings.
He recalled how much she loved playing games with her children — “shooting baskets, Dominos, Scrabble, Jacks, whatever the case” — and that she never “let” him win.
“What that taught me and the rest of us at an early age is, you earn everything,” he said. “Nothing is given to you.”
Mrs. Emerson’s daughter, Valencia Harris of St. Louis, said her mother “always taught us to be good to people, you taught us right from wrong, and you taught us to stand on our convictions.”
Mrs. Harris said she’ll never forget her mother telling her, ‘You’re right! I’m behind you,” and “You’re wrong. I’m gonna’ let you know it!”
“And we have lived by that,” Mrs. Harris stated.
Mrs. Palmer said she learned so much from her mother’s example.
“She has trained us, she has taught us, she has let us know right from wrong,” she said. “She has helped us to give back to this community, to volunteer, to do things that need to be done.”
Mrs. Emerson died peacefully on Nov. 18, 2025.
Fr. Miller presided and preached the homily at her Funeral Mass in Sacred Heart Chapel.
“Emerson’s life is a testament to love, commitment, concern for others and speaking up for what one believes,” the plaque in Bothwell Regional Hospital reads. “She is a true trailblazer.”
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