"Both families made sandwiches on French rolls and put them in a paper bag, and the two of us went around with the bag so our guests could eat," Peter says.

Despite strict rations and a honeymoon in Yosemite alongside recovering soldiers, the war didn't keep Evelyn from finding the perfect dress.

"There was a store in San Jose that had this dress with the beading and everything," she says. "They didn't have zippers then—there were all of these little satin buttons." The dress cost $100.

Last Saturday, the Camardas and their family celebrated the 60th anniversary of their wedding with a reception at the Cupertino Senior Center. According to the anniversary couple, the time has just flown by.

"Don't ask me how it happened!" Evelyn laughs. "I don't know!"

Those 60 years have been spent in the area where both have their roots. Evelyn grew up in Pacific Grove and met Peter when he came to her childhood home for a fishing trip with her brother.

Peter comes from a family of Cupertino farmers—his parents bought land near what is now Blaney Avenue at the time of his birth in 1918. His father was determined to harvest prunes, and the family practice eventually swelled to include cherry and apricot groves.

Peter was drafted not long after their initial encounter, and the couple married while he was home on furlough from active duty. His service continued after their wedding, and she followed him to his stations in Louisiana and Alabama. His tour of duty took him overseas and he didn't return until their first child was 9 months old.

After the war, the family returned to its roots in Cupertino. Peter worked on the family ranch while Evelyn took care of the children—a son named Peter Jr. and a daughter named Barbara. Peter only retired from the agriculture business five years ago, and the couple still lives on a half-acre of land whittled down from land that had been in the family for almost 80 years.

"We wouldn't live anyplace else," says Barbara. Despite encroaching suburbia, the couple won't relinquish their haven, which comes complete with lemon trees and a Yorkshire terrier named Tammie. Their daughter and son-in-law have a home behind them, and son Peter Jr. still carries on the family business with his 30 acres of prune fields in Merced.

The extended family, including three grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and siblings from as far away as New York, gathered in Cupertino this past weekend to toast the couple, who arrived at their reception chauffeured in a Model T touring car.

In a nod to their beginnings, the top layer of the anniversary cake was fruitcake, recalling the full fruitcake Evelyn's mother made for their wedding.

"The tradition then was to take some home and put it under your pillow for sweet dreams," Evelyn says. However, they might not have any leftovers this time because it's Peter's favorite dessert.

Besides, after 60 years of marriage, dreams aren't the only things that are sweet anymore.