Growing up in a household with a lot of kids — 12 in all — Walter Steele became familiar with doing loads of dirty laundry.

“Momma taught me at an early age, so I had to like it,” he said. “There was a lot of kids in my family, so I had to learn quick.”

Which is why, when he retired five years ago from his job at a chemical plant, it was all too natural to start working with his wife at the Wishy Washy Laundromat on the 31-W Bypass.

“We come in four nights a week,” Mary Rose Steele said. “See, we’re old so we don’t mind working when nobody else wants to.”

Though the night shift might not be desirable, it can get busy, especially on Wednesday nights, Walter Steele said. One Wednesday they did more than 99 loads of laundry.

“I don’t mind the work; I actually like it,” Mary Rose Steele said. “I’ve worked all my life. It’s all I’ve ever know.”

They also see it as time together.

“It’s great working with my wife, just great,” Walter Steele said. “That, and I can meet lots of different kinds of people.”

Mary Rose Steele agreed.

“My favorite is meeting people. I just like it,” she said.

When looking to the future for the couple, Mary Rose Steele said she wants to work until she is 85. Walter Steele isn’t too sure he’ll make it, but he says he’ll try and hold on just for her.

Until then, they can be found chatting, laughing and, of course, doing laundry a few nights a week.

“A Thousand Words” is a weekly photo essay that tells untold stories on the edges of campus.