Susan Foster took a break from mopping the floor as she stood under the shade of Foster’s gas station canopy close to where The Dart landed on the corner of 1st and Monticello Street. It was a sunny Thursday afternoon and they are working to get the finishing touches on the building.

She said it will soon open as The Corner Laundry after a couple of years of being a vacant building. John Lynch had bought the building and is entrusting them to manage the laundromat like they had managed the gas station.

Foster is originally from Ogden, Utah but has lived in Brookhaven for 34 years after she moved out of Baton Rouge. Her father had family in the area so they had moved to be closer to them. She said in 34 years Brookhaven has not changed a whole lot. A few things might have changed like Foster’s Chevron which is turning into a laundromat.

“Two years ago John Lynch brought us in to manage the gas station but COVID hit and it destroyed everything,” she said. “We hope the laundromat takes off. People will always need to do their laundry like they need groceries. We figured we have a lot of traffic here. When it was Fosters Chevron we had several steady customers. When it opens back up we should have steady customers.”

They are close to opening back up again.

She said 12 hours of her day are spent working so she does not have much free time. In her spare time, she likes to take day trips with her husband to places close by. McComb is her favorite day trip to shop and go by the Golden Corral.

Her home is on a plot of land near Lake Lincoln and is quiet compared to the previous cities she has lived in. Home is where she prefers to spend her time. Summer mornings are great because she can hear the boats out on the lake and the birds singing.

Peace can be found in her home with the exception of her two schnauzers and a lab-pit bull mix. She said the lab-pit bull mix is named Cami and adopted her and her husband.

“She showed up on our porch one day. I would feed her for a couple of days. We looked at her face and fell in love with her,” she said. “She is a sweet dog and I wouldn’t trade her for any dog or anything. She is a great guard dog too.”

She spent 21 years delivering papers for The Clarion Ledger and The Daily Leader. Her husband still delivers papers.

Back then she would deliver papers seven days a week. It was tiring because she had to work at night and deliver papers for The Daily Leader. However, it was not too bad once she got into a routine.

“We had a lot of good customers and yeah you hit a few bumps along the way but we enjoyed the customers,” she said. “We enjoyed the people we worked with at The Daily Leader and we had a lot of good friends. We still see a few of those friends now and then.”

At times she misses her childhood in Utah but said her family all live close to Brookhaven.

“I miss the holidays the most in Utah. At Christmas time there would be snow on the ground and the lights reflect off of it. It is something special,” she said. “Here the lights are just lights. They do not have any snow to reflect off of.”