Not long ago, my son and I spent a memorable afternoon visiting with his grandparents, Nick and Evie Conteas. Mom and Dad were very involved in sorting through memorabilia of their life together which began 60 years ago this coming Fourth of July.

We shared stories, pictures, letters and many documents that embraced their careers and their amazing beautiful life .... a real-life love story that began many years ago that brought them through the Great Depression during their youth to the mellow relaxed days of the present ... so filled with wonderful memories of their youth in spite of unbelievable hardships when Dad became head of his family at the age of sixteen after his father died.

How he worked to support his mother and sister while paying off the family debts ... how he worked his way through college at Northwestern University on an athletic scholarship, where he left his mark in the athletic record books after lettering three years in both football and baseball.

How he gave up pro contracts in both sports to join the military and serve his country in WWII as an intelligence officer for the U.S. Navy, serving in the three branches of intelligence: counter-intelligence, foreign intelligence and operational intelligence, covering assignments from stateside to the Middle East to the South Pacific and finally China.

While he was doing all this, Mom was teaching school and helping her parents and siblings.

Fast forward ... they married in Los Angeles on July 4, 1948 and returned to Waukegan, Il ... to take care of family responsibilities .... clearing those hurdles left them free to return to L.A. bringing with them my big brother, Chris.

Challenges and problems were met and surmounted by adjustments and readjustments throughout their lives. It was the love, understanding, appreciation and respect for each other with God's Love that made this one beautiful marriage.

Mom returned to teaching in L.A. until I was born, then she became a stay-at-home mom until Chris and I were both in school full time. She enjoyed her teaching career and periodically runs into former students, which gives her great joy.

Her great love outside of her home and family centered on volunteering. She began volunteer work at the UCLA Center for the Health Sciences many years ago and established the Student Services at UCLA Hospital, where she started with 56 students and by the time she left 16 years later, she had left her legacy not only to UCLA but also to other countries in the world that had heard about her successful work and her protocol was translated into numerous languages that enabled establishment of student services in health care facilities in many parts of the world.

When she retired from UCLA, she had an annual complement of more than 2000 participating students from far corners of the world.

She and Dad spent the next two years in extensive traveling since he had also retired and, upon their return from one of their trips, she was offered an opportunity she couldn't refuse ... she became director of volunteer services at Saint John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica and ended her professional career 21 years later at a huge retirement party given for her by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth at Saint John's when all the employees joined in this celebration of her work .

The celebration of love continues for Nicholas and Evanthia Conteas 60 years later.