So what’s the bad news? Well … it’s that New England harness racing enthusiasts couldn’t get enough of her monthly newsletter. And actually, that should be amended to read “free” monthly newsletter.

Emerson, a full-time teacher in addition to her duties as secretary of the Maine Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association, could hear the tick-tock of the postage meter getting louder by the day.

“Everyone wanted the newsletter. People that weren’t even members were getting it,” Emerson said. “We had so many requests that I said, ‘My God, we can’t afford this.’ If people wanted it, they were going to have to start paying for a newspaper.”

Pay, they did. First, 50 cents. Later, $1, then $2. And deliver, Emerson would.

In addition to her work in the classroom and in the stables of the Saco farm she managed with her husband, Chet, Jean and a small group of volunteers compiled news and photographs and published the Northeast Harness News.

As technology and the sport changed, the newspaper became a historical footnote almost 20 years ago. Its impact and Emerson’s contributions to the industry, however, are not forgotten.

In fact, they’re about to be immortalized. Emerson, 82, will be inducted Sunday into the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Goshen, N.Y.

Emerson joins Moira Fanning with her induction in the Communicators category. Driver/trainer Jimmy Takter and horses Rainbow Blue, Rocknroll Hanover and Arterra also will be enshrined.

“It has been a lot of years coming in a lot of different functions,” Emerson said. “I will enjoy it. They have a wonderful weekend planned.”

Born in America’s easternmost town of Lubec and exposed to harness racing in her youth, Emerson married into a farm family.

“My husband’s father had a farm, and we both liked horses. We started working for some of the drivers who wanted someone to groom for them,” Emerson said. “We had a horse before we had a farm.”

Already eyeing a way to transition into their retirement years, the Emersons purchased their 50-acre digs on Saco’s Boom Road in 1970.

Before the lottery, before casinos and before minor league professional sports came to the state, harness racing was the main attraction for both recreational gambling and sports entertainment.

“That was what we looked forward to all week: Bundling up and going to Lewiston Raceway,” Emerson said. “We couldn’t wait to get to Saturday night. That was the place to be in the late ’60s and early ’70s. You could not find an empty seat.“

Closer to home, Scarborough Downs grew in stature in the ’70s. By that time, Jean and Chet were heavily involved in owning and breeding standardbred horses. T.W. Happiness was Maine’s top-ranked trotter in 1982 and ’83.

Both husband and wife had retired from their careers by 1983 and began splitting the calendar each year, racing throughout New England during the summer and Pompano Beach, Fla., in the winter.

No matter where the Emersons picked up their mail, members of the racing community were anxious to find the Northeast Harness News in theirs.

Emerson sold advertising and was the chief writer, photographer, editor and publisher.

“Between the time it was a newsletter and then the newspaper, I did that for about 20 years,” Emerson said.

Chet Emerson died of bone cancer in 2010. Jean Emerson remains active both in life and in the sport she loves in both Maine and Florida.

She spends an even six months in both locales.

“That’s OK with me,” Emerson said. “I don’t mind mowing my lawn, but I don’t care for shoveling snow.”

Emerson is proud to represent her home state and the female gender, both of which are rare in the national hall of fame.

It’s not her first enshrinement, either. Emerson was previously welcomed into the New England Harness Racing Hall and into the communicators’ corner of the Florida Harness Racing Hall.

“For the first part of it I was teaching school at the same time,” Emerson said. “I was always doing two or three jobs, but I enjoyed it all. The horses were my favorite part.”

[email protected]