On October 9, Doctors Elisa and Manuel Breton will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, a marriage and partnership built on faith, trust and a shared belief in the importance of a good Catholic education.

Over a 26-year span their eight children attended St. Batholomew School in Long Beach, St. Hedwig School in Los Alamitos, St. Joseph High School in Lakewood (all six daughters), and St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower (both sons). In June the Doctors Breton attended the graduation of Christina, their second granddaughter to attend St. Joseph High School.

But beyond providing a Catholic education for their children, the Bretons --- by working and living as a team --- have set an example of the importance of living a life of service, and what making sacrifices really means.

Rugged beginnings

The Breton family story actually begins in Cuba, where sacrifice was a way of life for both Elisa and Manuel's families. Both wanted to be doctors, but neither family had the resources to support them in their medical school studies.

Manuel's father died when he was 12; Elisa's father was a shoemaker, and when Elisa expressed a strong desire to attend medical school her father told her that if he allowed her to go, then each of her three siblings would have to go to medical school, too. He could not show favoritism. Somehow Elisa's father managed to pay the bills and the whole family sacrificed, but in the end they completed their education. When they all finished medical school, he was recognized as "Father of the Decade."

In medical school Elisa met Manuel, who was a year ahead of her, and he gave her his textbooks from the previous year. Elisa did not even have the money to take the bus to school, nor to afford lunch. Often hungry going to school, she somehow completed her studies, maintaining an A average.

Soon after medical school Manuel went to the United States for a one-year internship program in Chicago, and in 1955 returned to Cuba to marry Elisa. Together they went back to Chicago and began their residency programs. It was never easy. They each received $66 a month during residency and their apartment rent alone was $99. Again, Elisa and Manuel managed, and began both their own family and family practice careers while in Illinois, where six children were born close together.

The young family then moved to California and settled in Los Alamitos, and with the move made the decision that their family would always come first. Manuel, who has always valued art, history, good music and culture, wanted his family to have opportunities that would come with living in Southern California. In their own careers Elisa and Manuel wanted schedules that would give them the greatest amount of time with their children.

So Manuel went to work with Los Angeles County Coroner's Office and Elisa went to the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Long Beach. As a licensed physiatrist she worked in rehabilitation with the young injured soldiers returning from the war in Vietnam. For her efforts during that period she was awarded a rare Purple Heart for her work with veterans.

The Bretons also enrolled their children in Catholic schools. Both parents took time to attend their children's activities, and both lectured at the two high schools in the biology and religion classes. They emphasized respect-for-life issues, and in their parish helped to teach pre-marriage classes.

Their support for their children's schools was enthusiastic and unending. They once won a large amount of money in a school raffle and immediately (and quietly) donated the money back to the school. Their children's education and development of their faith and moral character came first ahead of private practice and earning big money.

In the late 1970s the Bretons decided to leave their positions and to open a small clinic in Hawthorne that they named Centro Medico. They asked to be paid only what families could afford. Sometimes, that meant food; often it meant nothing. Nonetheless, the Bretons kept the clinic going for 18 years and today Elisa says proudly, "And we never had a lawsuit either."

Proud children

Today their eldest daughter, Elisa, who graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1974, is medical director of a clinic serving mainly Spanish-speaking migrant workers in Santa Cruz. Growing up Elisa always said, "I want to deliver a baby or set a bone." In that way, she followed in her parents' footsteps, as have other children:

---Daughter Teni is a social worker in the Los Angeles School District and teaches at Cal State Long Beach in the Masters in Social Work program.

---Daughter Rosa is a kindergarten aide at Our Lady of Refuge School in Long Beach.

---Daughter Tere is a kindergarten teacher at Hopkinson School.

---Son Manuel graduated from St. John Bosco High School, worked as a hospital laboratory technician at Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center until it closed, and at present is a "Mr. Mom." His wife is an elementary school teacher in a Spanish immersion program.

---Daughter Rebecca is a pediatrician serving in a clinic for low-income families and living in Fremont.

---Youngest daughter Maria was a teacher in bilingual special education and has taken time out to raise her family.

---Son Ramon is an acoustical sound engineer at Universal Studios.

Each has in some way helped to carry on the legacy begun by their parents.

Daughter Rosa, who spent a few years helping them in their clinic, says, "They are truly the most generous people I know. They've given so much to so many and not just family. I admire them tremendously and I am honored to be their daughter."

Dr. Elisa Breton says today that she hopes her eight children learned "to be good citizens, to help others, to be human and kind to others." Her husband, Dr. Manuel, adds, "Education is more than reading, writing. It is moral values and character formation that come with instruction in the faith."

Words and lessons the Bretons know as well as anyone.