Hearts in the north

Whether they met as teenagers or later in life, these North Las Vegas couples all have something in common: They found the loves of their lives, and they're holding tight.

A LIFETIME EPISODE OF 'I LOVE LUCY'

Michael and Sally Breault, married 42 years, met in 1964 when she was 14 and he was 17. His parents were married at a young age and were very supportive of their young love.

"Back then, you got married early," Sally said. They went to high school in Lakeside, Calif., near San Diego, and described it as a small town where many of their high school friends who married young are still together.

She said that at her 40th class reunion in 2010, the master of ceremonies asked couples who met at the school and married to stand up.

"Like, over half of this huge group stood up, and they married someone from the high school, and they're still married," she said.

Sally was a freshman cheerleader, and they would go to the football games on Friday nights. The other kids always went to Sam's Pizza, but Sally and Michael when to a coffee shop - the only young couple there. They would always share a chocolate milkshake and a tuna sandwich, he said.

As a young man, Michael saw the "playboy lifestyle" and thought that would be him, but then Sally changed everything.

"But I couldn't let her go. There was just no way I could let her go because I knew I was never going to find anybody that was as compatible for me as she is," he said.

To earn money to buy Sally's engagement ring, Michael performed janitorial services at her father's office and put the ring on layaway. They skipped their honeymoon to Hawaii to buy a television instead and saved money for their first house, he said. They have always been in sync about how they want to spend their money.

"Why do we stay together? How does that happen?" he asked. "It's just that we're very, very compatible on things that really matter. We never argue about money, sex, politics, religion ... We just think the same, and we knew that right from when we first started talking to each other."

While they may have had a traditional young marriage, he was surprised when he realized his wife was not a chef. He said he grew up watching shows like "Leave It To Beaver" and "watching all of the moms who would cook and clean wearing heels and dresses and just seemed to be loving it, and that wasn't how it was with her," he said. "I accepted that, and we never really talked about it, and for 10 years that was sort of a problem that we had, and then one day I just sort of said, 'You don't like to cook; I don't really love it, but I do like to eat, so I'll cook."

In exchange, she loves to work in the yard while he does not. They have a nice balance now, Michael said. And while he may not love to cook, he meticulously plans their meals, knowing three months in advance what he will serve for dinner.

The first dinner she cooked for him as newlyweds was a family recipe for a swiss steak.

"I was all excited - my first meal cooked by my new wife, and I walked in the house, and I didn't smell any cooking smells. So she takes it out of the oven - she never turned the oven on," he said. He compared being married to his wife as a lifetime-long episode of "I Love Lucy."

They moved from California to Las Vegas for retirement after considering Oregon, but the northwest was too cold for Sally. They said they could not be happier in North Las Vegas.

They rarely go out with other couples because they say other people just "get in their way of talking and having fun," he said. They are enamored with each other and share a similar sense of humor. Being best friends is at the center of their successful marriage, but that does not mean they are exactly the same - he is an introvert, and she's an extrovert. Plus, she doesn't like to eat beef, so they compromise occasionally. When their children got married, they advised them to pick their battles. But for Sally and Michael, she said, reluctantly and with a smile on her face, that he is always right.

'OH PLEASE, MR. POSTMAN'

Former North Las Vegas City Councilman Richard Cherchio and his wife Gloria met in 1974 when he delivered her mail in Florida. She had just moved to Florida near her family, and he started to deliver her mail as their postal worker. One day in July or August, a particularly hot day, she came out for the mail and asked him if he wanted some iced tea, and they started to talk.

"From there it just kind of blossomed into my looking forward to going to that address every day, not necessarily for iced tea," he said.

He carried mail in that community for 25 years, an area where their families lived. Because his route was in the neighborhood, he would come in and out of the house, and the couple were together all the time.

They married on May 21, 1981, and they consider each other soulmates. Perhaps a less romantic story than their first encounter, Richard proposed in the car at a red light.

"We were driving in the car, and he turned me and said, 'Well, you want to get married?' and I said 'OK,' " Gloria said.

She said she knew from their first date that he was the one. Both had been married before, but she said they clicked on their first date at the beach. Plus, he appreciated how connected she was with his mother.

They both knew that they wanted to get married before his mother died, and he said it was one of the better things he has ever done in his life.

The couple became heavily involved in the community, participating in community watch and bingo at the community center. A shared interest in volunteering brought them closer. He retired at 58 and found that life was too quiet. He was used to the Brooklyn, N.Y., pace and missed city life. They had always loved the West, so they moved to North Las Vegas shortly after.

Even now, they do not get tired of each other's company. They are fond of road trips and even drove to Alaska, putting 17,000 miles on their van. They both patrol with the volunteer citizens police team, too.

"You have to know we love one another if we patrol in the car for four hours together," he said.

He was drawn to her as an opposite because she can be the life of the party, he said.

"She's always smiling, always laughing, happy, whereas I'm more of a more serious person in many ways, so that helped me loosen up in that respect," he said.

She said she is very thankful for how nonrestrictive he is - she enjoys her freedom.

That does not mean he does not worry about her, though, he said.

"I can't tell her not to go, but just be careful going there," he said.

He was an only child and was drawn to Gloria's big family. An introvert, he said it posed a challenge occasionally, but he had a strong connection with her family.

"They kind of accepted me into the family right away and were just very, very nice people. In that respect, I'm the one who lucked out, not only with Gloria but her family too," he said.

When his father died at 53, Richard said he started to take care of his mother and saw how difficult it was for her. He admits to preaching to his daughter and granddaughters occasionally: "Don't depend on anybody but yourself. Never put your life in the hands of somebody else no matter who it is, no matter how much you love them. People are people and may not want to do anything bad down the road, but you have to look out for yourself, but you have to be respectful, too."

FACING WHATEVER LIFE THROWS AT YOU

Blind dates often are better known for their horror stories than matchmaking, but James and Janice Elvester's 43-year love story began on a last-minute blind date in Hawaii. The North Las Vegas couple met through his cousin and her classmate at the time while James was on a leave from the U.S. Navy. He was on his second tour and came home to Hawaii for 30 days. He spent the first three weeks with his German shepherd on the beach, he said, but during his fourth and final week of vacation, he wanted to go out. He called a cousin who knew Janice and, as they say, the rest was history. While they did not see each other for a year, their courtship continued through letters.

"I got out (of the Navy) in November, and the following June, we set up the wedding and got married in July," he said. They were married in 1970 when she was 20 and he was 21. They have two daughters and a granddaughter.

Janice has one piece of advice to newlyweds: "Marriage is work. If you have a problem, fix it," she said. The couple are not unfamiliar to challenges that would test most marriages. In 1992, Janice was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She said she tries to look for things to be thankful for to keep her spirits high, and she said she is thankful for her husband every day.

"Me having MS is the pits, but I look for things to be thankful for," she said. "I look for the bright things." She said she is not scared although her sister battled the disease and died due to complications, so she is comforted in that she has seen it and knows what to expect.

Mostly, she said she is thankful for her husband's help. She said she knows many multiple sclerosis patients whose spouses left.

"I refuse to be negative," she said. "He helps me a lot, really, a lot. I feel that sometimes I'm very demanding."

But they get through it with a similar humor, she said. "We put the Lord first, and then we joke a lot," she said. One example, is that Janice, who is bound to a wheelchair, tells people, "I didn't know if you had enough chairs so I brought my own."

But for the Elvesters, fixing a problem means they never go to bed angry.

"We don't carry it past that door," he said, pointing to the bedroom door in their North Las Vegas house. "We're husband and wife no matter how much we argue at night."

The two moved to Las Vegas in 1989 after trying to live in Phoenix first. He worked in construction for 15 years and retired. He admits that sometimes the two will finish each other's sentences and that neither cares who is right anymore.

"You don't have to prove yourself," Janice said.

James expanded on his wife's advice. He said, " A lot of people expect too much out of each other. Keep your expectations to a normal level."

Contact Centennial and North Las Vegas View reporter Laura Phelps at lphelps@viewnews.com or 702-477-3839.