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On a warm June day in 1935, two people were wed at St. Stevens Church in Minneapolis. The streets were noisy with horses and wagons and the clanging of street cars.

Now seven decades later, that couple – Steve and Martha Reylek – are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary at the ages of 92 and 91.

The Reyleks are longtime residents of the Chisago Lakes area and well-known in the community.

Steve and Martha grew up in North Dakota and met each other when they were in school.

“We were high school sweethearts,” Martha said.

The couple eventually ended up in Minneapolis, where they wed on June 20, 1935. “It was so much noisier then because of all the street cars,” Steve said.

The Reyleks lived in Minneapolis for more than 11 years, where Steve worked first at a cafeteria and then at General Mills. They paid $12 a month rent for their two-bedroom apartment. It had a nice kitchen and bathroom, but no hot water, Steve said. “It was a cold water flat.”

“We looked at apartments that were $25 a month, but we thought that was too high,” Martha said.

At first, Steve walked a mile to work every day, but that soon changed. They remember buying their first car together about a year after being married.

“We bought it used for $150,” Martha said. Steve remembers the first car he bought before getting married – it cost $49. “Now they’re $49,000,” Steve said.

They started a family a couple years later. Steve remembers Martha staying in the hospital for 10 days when their son Fred was born. “The bill was $40 and that included the doctor visit,” he said.

When the Lindstrom hardware store went up for sale, the Reyleks decided to move north. They purchased the store along with Martha’s sister and husband, Esther and Clifford Branson. The two couples were partners in the business for 28 years.

Their first house in Lindstrom was the Gustaf house. Their daughter, Joyce, and son, Fred, remember a huge garden behind the home. Martha grew and canned her own vegetables from the garden. “There were big apple trees too,” Martha said.

Fred also remembers chickens at one time and his dad butchering the birds right behind the house. Of course at the time, the house was in the middle of the country, Steve said.

As their three kids grew up, the Reyleks built a new home on Andrews Ave. in Lindstrom, where they lived for the next 30 years.

Lindstrom was nothing like what it is today, Steve said. “You knew everybody then,” he said.

While living in Lindstrom, the Reyleks were instrumental in starting the first catholic church in town. The first mass for St. Bridget’s included 30 members, Steve said. “Now there’s about 1,200 families,” he said. Before they had their own church building, mass was held in a dance hall above a gas station where the Chisago County Press building now sits. Steve was a long-time trustee for the church as well.

The couple moved to Shafer in 1997, where they now live in a Shafer trailer park owned and managed by their children Joyce and Fred. Another son, Bob, lives in Minneapolis.

The Reyleks spent time in the dance hall in Lindstrom over the years taking dance lessons. After retiring in 1975, they started traveling to Texas to live during the winter. Here they also took dance lessons. “We were dancing at least 3 or 4 times a week,” Martha said. “Being active is probably what’s kept us going,” she said.

The Reyleks speak fondly about what their 70 years together have been like. “We have been very fortunate,” Martha said. “We have had a very good life,” Steve said.

Their children echoed their sentiments, saying the couple have had a wonderful relationship. “I never heard them argue, maybe they did in private, but I never heard it,” Joyce said. “Dad doesn’t disagree with anyone.”

Martha said the secret is that one person always learns to agree, to compromise.

Their children hosted a 50th anniversary for the Reyleks in 1985 at Lindstrom City Hall. Now, they will host a 70th anniversary party at the Sportsman’s Club in Chisago City on June 18, along with the Reylek’s four grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.

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