William Kary "Bill" Emerson

William Kary Emerson, who died on 11 December 2025, was born in Enid, Oklahoma, July 15, 1941, the day before his mother's 24th birthday. His parents, Mary Rebecca (Williams) and Kary C. Emerson later had two other children, James and Robert, who preceded Bill in death. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1965 with a BS in mechanical engineering and then was commissioned in the U.S. Army, where he served for 20 years. On March 13, 1965, he married Marcie Louise Stogner, who died in April 2025. Bill is survived by their two children, Dr. Rebecca Emerson of London, England, and Reverend Phillip Emerson of Eagan, Minnesota.

During his time in the army he and Marcie lived in Germany for four years, served two tours in the Vietnam during that war, obtained a master's degree in engineering, served in a tank battalion, two different cavalry regiments, and managed several army projects, including the development of camouflage uniforms for soldiers and the development of the M1A1 tank. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, three Meritorious Service Medals, two Bronze Stars with V, three Purple Hearts, and Air Medal, a parachutist badge, and a Combat Infantry Badge.

After retiring from the army he managed development of army weapons systems for Honeywell in the Minneapolis area between 1985 and 1991, them moved to Madison, where he continued to manage the development of army weapons systems for various companies. He then started his own company supporting contractors in the Huntsville area.

Bill started collecting military insignia when he was in the 5th grade and that grew into a lifelong passion. The Smithsonian Institution published his first book on army chevrons in 1983, which was followed by an encyclopedia on U.S. Army uniforms and insignia (670 pages, University of Oklahoma Press, 1996) and a work on U.S. Army marksmanship and marksmanship awards (University of Oklahoma Press, 2003). His final book, Jim Crow's Army, will be published in 2026. A prolific writer, he wrote other books, contributed to encyclopedias, had over 300 articles published in various scholarly journals and collectors' magazines.

Bill was active in his church and in various community organizations. He and Marcie enjoyed traveling, which took him to over 80 countries and 49 of the states. Bill was physically active all of his life and enjoyed running and racquet ball. In later years when it became difficult to run long distances, he took up bicycling.