Interview with Kim Wilson
Date23 June 2025
Mediumborn digital audio file
DimensionsDuration: 51 Minutes, 47 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineCommunity History Project Collection
Description(a) Audio file of interview with Kim Wilson. She was interviewed by Tania Alfonso on 23 June 2025 in Fairfield, Connecticut. (b) Photograph of Kim Wilson provided by Kim Wilson.
Kim Wilson was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in her life.
Kim Wilson is a student at Housatonic Community College. Her redefining moment of change was when she chose to go back to school at age 65.
Kim discusses her earlier life, including difficult family relationships and getting a job at 16 so she could move out, as well as her employment history, volunteering, divorce, and having children at a young age. She enrolled in college through the senior program and using financial aid where she began taking art classes. She describes the differences between going to school in 1976 and 2025 and notes that remembering her passwords is particularly tricky.
Prior to going back to school, Kim spent a lot of time watching television, but school provided her with the friends and positive atmosphere that she needed. She misses school during the summer and notes that having more summer classes would help underserved communities.
Being in school has motivated Kim to live a healthier life and has helped her lose weight. It has also helped teach her to ask for help. She is proud of herself for the first time in her life and looks forward to tomorrow.
Kim notes that she will never be able to use her degree because if she works, her disability insurance will be taken away. As a cancer survivor, coma survivor, and person with a tracheotomy, she needs the insurance. She has recently begun therapy and says that it is very helpful.
Kim describes the difficulties she had with getting the help she needs because of her disabilities.
Post-interview Kim described the interview process as therapeutic.
Kim Wilson was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in her life.
Kim Wilson is a student at Housatonic Community College. Her redefining moment of change was when she chose to go back to school at age 65.
Kim discusses her earlier life, including difficult family relationships and getting a job at 16 so she could move out, as well as her employment history, volunteering, divorce, and having children at a young age. She enrolled in college through the senior program and using financial aid where she began taking art classes. She describes the differences between going to school in 1976 and 2025 and notes that remembering her passwords is particularly tricky.
Prior to going back to school, Kim spent a lot of time watching television, but school provided her with the friends and positive atmosphere that she needed. She misses school during the summer and notes that having more summer classes would help underserved communities.
Being in school has motivated Kim to live a healthier life and has helped her lose weight. It has also helped teach her to ask for help. She is proud of herself for the first time in her life and looks forward to tomorrow.
Kim notes that she will never be able to use her degree because if she works, her disability insurance will be taken away. As a cancer survivor, coma survivor, and person with a tracheotomy, she needs the insurance. She has recently begun therapy and says that it is very helpful.
Kim describes the difficulties she had with getting the help she needs because of her disabilities.
Post-interview Kim described the interview process as therapeutic.
Object number2024.79.37a-b
NotesSubject Note: The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History’s Community History Project (CHP) is a public-facing initiative, focused on contemporary collecting, gathering items of the recent past as well as from events happening today. This program developed community historians to identify, document, and preserve their experiences as residents of Connecticut, and to share these experiences during a series of community presentations. The project focused on the theme "Redefining Moments of Change." Conneticans share stories of people or events who have changed their lives or how they have sparked change in the lives of others.Cataloging Note: Digitization and access to this collection is supported by a Congressionally Directed grant through the U.S. Department of Education.
Subject Terms
- Fairfield
- Oral history
- Interviews
- Oral narratives
- Divorce
- Motherhood
- College students
- Students
- Artists
- Mothers
- Single mothers
- Disabled Persons
- Relationships
- Homelessness
- Death
- Victims of domestic violence and abuse
- Suicide
- Family
- Adoption
- Cancer survivors
- Older people
- Health
- Mental health
- Health insurance
- Therapy and counseling
- Social services
- Women
- Older people
- Teenage pregnancy
- Single mothers
- Tracheotomy
- Coma survivor
- Federal aid
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- Born Digital Audio
- Community History Project U.S. Department of Education grant
- Redefining Moments of Change Collection
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