When I was about 7 or 8 . . .
. . . years old living in the small town of Wake Forest, NC, there was an old house downtown. One day my mother needed to see the lady who lived there. When we went in, I was dumbfounded to see a room with Bendix washing machines on three walls. Most of them were diving bell models, but there were several "Deluxe" models (a little taller and more square). I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Each machine had a box of Oxydol detergent on the floor beside it. Four machines on the back wall, four on the front wall, and six on the side wall. She had one extractor and a large gas fired dryer. Each machine drained using their pumps.
It was a laundrymat. The lady's name was Mrs. Wilson. After that, whenever possible, I would go to visit Mrs. Wilson and "help" her run her business. She was a bit hesitant at first but soon realized I knew what I was doing and could be a big help. It was a wonderful experience for me.
Of course, now, the house is gone and so are all those wonderful Bendix machines. But I've still got beautiful memories of working in that laundrymat.
My family moved to Winston-Salem, NC in 1956 and it wasn't long before I discovered a laundry at Thruway Shopping Center which had 20 large Bendix "double load" machines all in a row, all using gravity drain. The lady who worked there lived not far from us. My school let out at 1:00 on Friday and I could ride the school bus to Thruway and "work" with Mrs. Cameron until they closed at 9:00 PM. This was not a coin laundry. Customers would simply drop off their dirty clothes and the "staff" would wash and dry them. Then she and her husband would drop me off a block from our house on their way home.
The shopping center is still there, but the laundrymat is long gone. However, fond memories remain with me.
Jerry Gay
