Interview with Susan Wilson, 2025
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10.20.25–10.29.25
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Conversation with Danya Gerasimova
Susan Wilson lived near the Missouri Portland Cement factory from 1961 to 1983.
Danya:
Do you remember the Missouri Portland Cement factory?
Susan Wilson:
I lived real close to it. When I was little, I thought the smoke stack on the factory made the clouds. It was always going. I remember if we didn't wash our cars frequently, a layer of concrete would form on every surface. One thing my parents never thought of was our lungs!
Danya:
How long did you live in Riverview for?
Susan Wilson:
I was born in 1961 and lived there until I got married, so that would be 22 years.
Danya:
And which street did you live on?
Susan Wilson:
I lived at 485 Adrian Drive, about 1/2 mile from the factory. My maiden name was Susan Taylor.
Danya:
What was the neighborhood like when you lived there?
Susan Wilson:
There were big families, and the children weren't supervised like they are now. Dads worked, and moms were home with the kids. Very few dads were enforcers of the rules and did most of the discipline.
We would go outside in the morning and play until the street lights came on. A lot of us would just get breakfast and dinner during the summers. School didn't start until a week after Labor Day and always ended the first week of June.
Danya:
Do you remember whether you heard much talk about pollution in the neighborhood at the time or if that's something you only began thinking about later?
Susan Wilson:
No talk about health issues. Just talk about car damage. I remember our next door neighbor sued Portland [Cement] and got a new car out of it. His name was Vaughn Kinder.
As kids, all of us would ride our bikes behind the mosquito truck right in the foggy pesticide. No parents or kids worried about that either! It sure was different back then, when health worries never occurred to the adults or kids.
This was a time when people trusted businesses and the government, before all the scandals were reported. We didn't know about Times Beach, the Tuskegee Experiments, or the contamination of the land around Coldwater Creek. I think the 1960s were the last innocent naive years before all the scandals were found. For some reason, we thought big business and the government told the truth and would not purposely harm us.
