Her mother, Ann Emerson, was a police chief in Chichester, a pioneer in her day.

Her father, Herbert Emerson, was a firefighter and a mail carrier in Pittsfield for decades, serving the city in which he was born and raised.

Their daughter, Cathy Emerson, adopted her parents’ psyche, that of hardy people working in often tough conditions while trying to perform and delegate at the same time, in a hard-edged environment that could be cruel if you weren’t careful.

And so, for now, Emerson has maintained her stoic demeanor, inching closer to the door with dry eyes, ready to step into retirement after working at the Pope Memorial SPCA for 33 years.

This week might be different. Her last day is Dec. 29.

“Not usually,” she said earlier this month about on-the-job tears. “But this stuff could be making me cry, yeah.”

She said she was always helping animals as a little girl in Pittsfield. She’d carefully remove a chipmunk from her cat’s mouth and nurse it back to health.

“Kept it in a cage with puncture wounds, kept it until it healed,” Emerson said.

She’s been around long enough to recall the old Chicken Coop animal shelter in Penacook, the predecessor to the Pope Memorial SPCA on Silk Farm Road.

In those days, animals were euthanized if homes could not be found within certain time limits. It was something Emerson worked to change.

Longtime colleague, Mary Aranosian, who’s volunteered with the SPCA for 30 years, vividly recalled seeing Emerson lose her cool back in those dark days, a rare glimpse of sadness and anger spilling out while Emerson had no idea someone was watching.

“She was stacking pet carriers and some fell out of the stack,” Aranosian said. Fed up with putting down cats and dogs, Emerson kicked one of the empty carriers, hard. 

“She was mad,” Aranosian said. “We do not have that policy today. She has devoted 30 years to changing policies.”

Emerson admitted that she’d lock herself in the bathroom during her early years, when euthanasia was procedural, before advancing to director of operation 25 years ago.

“It was really hard,” Emerson said. “I often thought I wasn’t cut out for this. I’d hear, ‘You can get through this.’ And I had a vision of things getting better and I stuck with it and here we are. But it was very rough.”

Her programs promoted spaying and neutering dogs and cats, making the procedure mainstream. Her lobbying raised awareness for more foster homes in the Granite State, and she thought outside the box when it came to dealing with feral cats.

She put them to work, categorizing them as barn cats who’d never go inside the home and instead would kill mice in the garage.

“They were excellent mousers,” Aranosian said.

Aranosian reflected on her time working with Emerson over the years.

“You needed someone calm, cool and collected to do that job,” Aranosian said. “I am a mental case and she is Even Steven.”

Emerson’s defense mechanism, the force field she’s counted on to represent strength and leadership, may be lowered soon.

“I’ve had my moments, but I probably don’t show them in public or around people,” Emerson said. “Private breakdowns, but I might cry like a baby on my last day.

“I’ve spent more than half my life with this organization.”