In 1969, President Richard M. Nixon appointed Emerson as vice president of the Panel on the Provision of Food as It Affects the Consumer (The White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health). In 1970, she served as an expert witness before the Food and Drug Administration's hearing on vitamins and mineral supplements and additives to food. According to a close friend and colleague of hers, she was a practical joker. Shortly after earning garage privileges at Merck, Karl Folkers was working late. Emerson obtained a parking ticket which she placed on the windshield of his car on her way out. Folkers called her when he got home at 2am to accuse her of being a prankster. She died January 18, 1984 in Santa Monica, California. She was buried near her parents in El Reno, Oklahoma on January 24, 1984.