Kathleen & Mike Gresk: Chrome and diamonds

This was the week.

On a summer weekend in 1970, Mike Gresk pulled up to the train station in Joliet. He had made the trip in his silver-gray, late-1960s Buick Electra 88 several times to pick up his girlfriend, Kathleen Brown, on her weekend visits.

“It was a tank in that old vintage ’60s sense of the word,” Gresk said of the car. “It was like driving a couch.”

But on this occasion, Gresk had something special waiting for Brown: an engagement ring. The couple had previously discussed marriage so Gresk, then 20 years old, decided to play it casual.

“I told her ‘There is something for you in the glove compartment,’” he said with a laugh. “It’s not like she did not know what was in there.”

Despite the constant discussion, Brown was still somewhat surprised.

“I don’t think she was expecting it that weekend,” said Gresk, 60, who was elected Wheaton mayor in 2007 and is running for re-election this spring. “It was just one of those ongoing conversations.”

It has been 43 years since the two went on their first date to a showing of Sidney Poitier’s 1967 movie “To Sir, With Love” in Hillside. In August, they will celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary.

However, Cupid’s arrow did not exactly strike at first sight. Gresk and Brown met in grammar school and hung around in the same circles. It was not until Gresk’s senior year in high school that the two went on their first date on Jan. 5, 1968.

“I think there was that basic attraction that every relationship has,” Gresk said. “Over the years, we have become best friends.”

In August of 1972, the two married. The couple moved several times, passing through England and Carol Stream before settling back in Wheaton in 1983.

“We were very fortunate we found each other,” he said. “Life was so much simpler then, but I think every generation thinks that.”