Jo Ann Emerson is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Missouri's 8th congressional district from 1996 to 2013. The district consists of Southeast and South Central Missouri and includes the Bootheel, the Lead Belt and the Ozarks. Emerson is a member of the Republican Party. On January 22, 2013, Emerson resigned her seat in Congress to become the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. With the defeat of Congressman Ike Skelton, Emerson became the dean, i.e., the longest-serving member, of Missouri's congressional delegation in 2011. 

September 16th, 1950 in Bethesda (Age 74)