Tucked away in the nooks and crannies of our communities are small treasures that might go unnoticed if we are not made aware of them.

I got a tip from my boss, the Big Gruff Editor about Elfie and Jim Hornby, who live a few blocks behind Metropolitan Market off of Dash Point Road.

The Big Gruff Editor's voice went soft when he told me about the pair, that Elfie was a lovely German lady who had immigrated to the Northwest and taught dance, learned how to paint and had authored three books, and that her husband was a skiing enthusiast, avid bike rider and fine wood worker.

At the couple's modest, well kept older home I was met with the warmth you might expect at your mother's house, complete with coffee and cookies.

"So, Elfie," I asked, "I understand you're a dancer."

She wrinkled her elfin nose and in a light German accent, she revealed, "I don't dance anymore...oh...I dance around the house!"

Elfie poured the coffee and I asked them both how they met.

Jim began, " I had a friend who could yodel, and he spoke German really well...we were at Mt. Hood for an Austrian festival and she was there."

Elfie chimed in, "We were dressed in our evening clothes, and they were in ski jackets...sitting by an open window."

Jim cut in, "They asked us to close the window, so we did." And? "We were leaving, and had just started out the door, when something made me turn around."

Elfie smiled and Jim finished his thought, "..and we just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary."

That sounds like a love story, so I asked them how they made it this far. "You both have to give a little," Jim said, "and she gives a lot!"

Elfie went through a lot too. Born in Munich, Germany before WWII, Elfie's life was difficult before the Nazi war machine came fully to power due to her father's political opposition to the ruling party.

By the age of four, she was learning dance to help bring income to the family, appearing on stage at six and giving solo concerts by the age of ten.

By the time she was in her teens, Elfie was dancing all across Bavaria. Rather than divulge all of the details of Elfie's amazing story in this column, I will refer the reader to any of the three excellent books she has written, and from which I have gathered some of my information.

Her first, "Dancing to War" covers her teen years as a classical ballet and folk dancer charged with entertaining German troops during the horrific days of the war on the Russian front.

Elfie's second book, "Shadow of Defeat" is a sequel to her first book and according to her webpage, it further chronicles the war years from her unique view. Her latest book, "So, This is America!" is a collection of Elfie's reflections of starting over in a foreign country in 1950's America, amid ongoing anti-German sentiment and a terrific lack of opportunity for a professional dancer in a new but still hostile environment.

At www.elfiehornby.com you may read about the three books, read excerpts from them, and purchase them.

After reading these excerpts myself, I can say that the books are superbly written and are must reading for anyone who is interested in a different perspective on how war devastates and shapes humanity, for anyone who thinks they have had a rough turn in life, or for those who appreciate fine writing from a biographical aspect.

Though so much of Elfie's first decades were hard, listening to her and her husband now tells me that it is love that courses through the couple's daily routines.

Jim tells me about their beloved German Shepherd, Tasha, who was Elfie's protector while Jim worked second shift.

"We got her from a man who said she'd bitten a tax assessor." Jim smiled. Elfie, also grinning added, "We took her because we thought she deserved a second chance."

At 78, Jim is energetic and animated.

He showed me his wonderful bas-relief wood carvings, all done with no formal training, and about which he is characteristically modest,

"This one took me about a year to do, it's from an Italian postcard I got from a friend." Jim is an avid music fan and he searches out old ski songs and dubs them from tape decks and vinyl records to CDs in his basement workshop.

He promised to send me some music from his collection, "from all over the world."

Out in the Hornby's garden, Jim points out some healthy looking beets.

"We grow beans, peas, raspberries and strawberries, and cucumbers in these raised containers."

The gardening doesn't take up all of Jim's time, however, and he still has a seasons pass to Crystal Mountain. "I was on the ski patrol, and I've been skiing for..." he rolled his eyes up, "going on 17 years!"

Shortly after the pair met at Mt. Hood and Jim had proposed marriage, Elfie told him her main requirement, "We can never move away from the Northwest."

For Jim, as an avid mountain climber, skiier and outdoorsman, this was no problem at all.

Elfie explained, "I come from Bavaria and I was homesick for the mountains and the woods...and I think we both connect to nature more than anything else."

Jim: "We enjoyed berry picking." Elfie: "and mushroom picking."

The pattern of finishing each other's sentences said enough: Forty years together is just the beginning for these two.