Emerson Brewing Company - Richard Emerson: the hopfather

A young Richard Emerson with an early set of hearing aids. Richard was so profoundly deaf he had hearing aids in both ears rather than one as was more common in the late 1960s.

As a very young child, I was aware of thumps on the ground and loud noises. I would look around to see what it was and where it had come from. It took so long for me to hear that I was behind in terms of learning to read. My mother put in a lot of effort to help me learn to lip-read. She would have a spoon in her hand and hold it up to her face and say spoon. It wasnt easy for my mother, especially when I couldnt say the word Mum. I would call her Bum.

Looking back, Ingrid Emerson wonders what she would do given a choice. Go through with her pregnancy knowing her first-born child would more than likely suffer a severe birth defect? Or, as others did later, terminate the pregnancy?

What would I do if I had my time over? If I knew I had rubella would I have an abortion or not? I still dont know. Back then we had no choice but to take the risk.

Ingrid Holst married George Emerson in 1958, and they lived in a small flat near the University of Otago in Dunedin. Having gained a Bachelor of Science degree, she worked in the universitys biochemistry department where George was studying towards his PhD.

Ingrid knew she had married a scientist with a train obsession and a camera, a man with a passion for documenting railway infrastructure and the end of the steam age. Perhaps not quite as obvious was that shed married a man with an Elizabethan approach to married life what George wanted he got.

In October 1963, George wanted to spend Labour Weekend in Christchurch to indulge his passion for photographing steam trains. Ingrid dutifully packed the Commer Cob on which theyd recently spent their meagre savings, and off they went. The Commer was a cross between a station wagon and a van, and theyd bought it so they could save money by sleeping in it on Georges frequent train-chasing weekends away.

Ingrid, who was a few weeks pregnant at the time, cant remember the specific reason for the trip as there were so many train-related holidays over the years, she reckons theyve all blurred into one.

The one detail of the trip she remembers clearly wasnt to make itself known until a couple of weeks after they got home. I noticed when I had a bath I had a rash all over me. I went to the GP the next morning and he happened to have a skin specialist in his suite of rooms. They looked at it and decided it was rubella.

I had to go to the health department to get gamma-globulin I dont know what good it did you, but that was the only treatment they could give you that or an abortion, but an abortion wasnt mentioned at that moment at all. They did after that in fact, women demanded it when the next bout of rubella came around.

After Richard was born, a lot of people said to me: I had an abortion, why didnt you? Medical people asked me the same question when Richard was a little boy. One person said: What do you feel about having Richard like this? I remember saying its a hang of a lot of work, but I wouldnt be without him. Because what a fabulous addition to the world hes been, what a lot hes done for people, what a lot hes done for Dunedin.