1975 – 2025 Celebrating 50 Years Of Marriage – Volume I.

On July 12, 2025, Marty & Sandy Boller celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary! Read more about the 50th Anniversary celebration here…

In celebration of these five decades of wedded bliss, we have put together four web pages that bring together some facts, figures, and, of course, a few fun pictures from those days long ago when Marty & Sandy were first building their relationship.

Fortunately, Sandy & Marty kept a pretty good chronological list of their “firsts” – beginning in March 1974…

As we discuss in more detail elsewhere, Marty Boller and Sandy Unrue were music teachers in School District #21 – Wheeling, Illinois – a northwest suburb of Chicago from 1973 to 1978. Both started their jobs there in the fall of 1973, with Marty working as a jr. high & elementary band instructor at Jack London Jr. High, while Sandy was an elementary music teacher at Eugene Field Elementary.

In the spring of 1974, Marty’s co-worker, band director Jack Majure, had several instrumental students playing at an area solo contest in Round Lake, Illinois, and Sandy, a pianist, volunteered her time to play accompaniment for some of those students. It’s on Saturday, March 2, 1974 at Round Lake High School, when Jack first introduced Marty and Sandy to each other. If memory serves us well, it was a cordial, but very short conversation*.

A couple of months later – on Friday, May 24, 1974 – as the 1973-74 school year was coming to a close, Sandy came to London Jr. High for our year-end band concert, once again with the assignment of playing piano for a couple of the top London band students. Marty’s primary role at the Jr. High level was conducting the London Jazz Band, and during one of the breaks between performing groups, Marty & Sandy struck up a friendly conversation, which was highlighted by the highly romantic topic of Sandy seriously considering trading off her 1968 green Chevy Nova. We’re sure that Marty – a long-time Nova owner himself (only his was yellow) – had some truly inspiring words of wisdom to share that evening, because by the following fall, Sandy was driving a new 1974 red Ford Maverick!

So, during the summer break of 1974, Marty & Sandy both headed back home – Sandy to Elkhart, Indiana and Marty to Iowa City. But when school started up again in late August, Marty decided to make a move…

On Monday, August 26, 1974, Sandy stopped by the London Jr. High bandroom office to find out about a teacher’s meeting that had been scheduled for District #21 music teachers. Finding out that Sandy had moved from Skokie to Wheeling over the summer, Marty decided to try out one of his “pick up” lines: Maybe I will come over and see your new apartment!

Apparently, the conversation clicked, because by Saturday night, August 31, 1974, Marty was taking Sandy to see The Stylistics at Arie Crown Theatre – McCormick Place in downtown Chicago! As you can see (below), Marty shelled out $15.00 for two great seats at Arie Crown, plus ice tea back in Wheeling afterwards! Wow! this must be serious!

We thought you’d enjoy hearing one of The Stylistic’s biggest hits from 1974…

Now, depending who you ask, you’ll get two different stories on why Marty waited nearly one month before asking Sandy out again for another date. Sandy believes that Marty just wasn’t sure about all this, while Marty claims he needed to save up more money before going on another expensive date! But regardless, on Saturday, September 21, 1974, Marty and Sandy had Date #2. This time it was for Asian food at Young’s Chinese Restaurant in Glenview (below left). That was followed by several more dates that fall: Saturday, October 5, 1974 – the thriller movie Juggernaut (below middle) at Golf Mill in Niles; Friday, October 25, 1974 – another meal at Steak-N-Stuff – a great spot for burgers in Arlington Heights; and on Saturday, November 23, 1974, an attempt to see yet another “disaster” movie (which was the “thing” in movies during the mid-70’s): Earthquake (below right). But alas, the theater was sold out, so Marty & Sandy went over to Marty’s apartment and watched TV. Hmm. No hanky-panky, we presume!

On Saturday, December 7, 1974 – a lovely dinner at Kristof’s in Wheeling followed by Earthquake – which included interactive seating that shook your chair with every tremor on the screen! A moving experience, indeed!

The next weekend – Friday & Saturday, December 13 & 14, 1974 – was a true turning point in the relationship, as Marty’s parents – George & Dixie Boller of Iowa City came to Wheeling/Buffalo Grove for the weekend.

Things got off to a really good start with a delicious German-style dinner at Northern Chalet in Libertyville (below right), followed the next day to a trip to Hawthorn Mall (see map below left).

Things are really getting serious now – Monday, December 16, 1974 – as Marty is invited to Sandy’s for dinner. After some pepper steak, the conversation gets a bit more serious, ending with The First Kiss!

Now, it’s Christmas break – Saturday, December 21, 1974, and this time, Marty is catching a ride back to Iowa City with a college friend, meeting them at O’Hare, while Sandy heads off to Elkhart for the holidays. Time for an early Christmas present and another smooch before parting ways.

Now, at this point – during the Christmas break – both parties were given an opportunity to do some serious thinking about the growing relationship. From his perspective, Marty was wanting to move forward, so on New Year’s Day – Wednesday, January 1, 1975 – he dialed up the telephone operator in Elkhart, Indiana, making a long-distance phone call (a rather expensive endeavor back in the day) and getting Sandy’s mom – LaVonne Unrue. While he had a nice chat with Sandy’s mom, his hope was that Sandy would return his call, but sadly, he was disappointed that over the next few days, he never got that call! Thinking that Sandy just might be having second thoughts, he immediately called her upon his return to Wheeling/Buffalo Grove on Sunday, January 5, 1975. Fortunately, Sandy hadn’t had a change of heart, but, according to her story, she was simply not able to locate Marty’s home phone number in Iowa City. Interestingly, Marty did make a good impression on Sandy’s mother, as she apparently told Sandy that this guy had a really great voice! Score one for Boller!

After a few more dinners together, Marty invited Sandy to go on a double date with his band director friend, Jack Majure and his wife Lynn, to see Count Basie and His Orchestra at Carey Grove High School on Monday, January 13, 1975…

Enjoy this 9-minute cut from a Count Basie & His Orchestra concert from 1975…

By mid-January 1975, things were moving along much faster, so on Sunday, January 19, 1975, Sandy invited Marty to visit her church home: North Shore Assembly of God in Skokie, IL.

Marty had been attending a Presbyterian church in Wheeling since he had moved to the area, and had no experience with an Assembly of God church, so Sandy just wasn’t sure how he would respond. But as it turned out, Marty loved his first visit, as the church was led by a neat campus minister named Larry Hurtado (pictured above), and his easy-going personality and his contemporary style of ministry made the church a great place for communion with God while also building deeper relationships with others. You can read more about Marty & Sandy’s on-going relationship with the people of North Shore Assembly here.

God was moving in both of our hearts, and as He was bringing us closer to each other, we were growing closer to God. Above left: In the spring of 1975, Sandy & Marty were both baptized at North Shore Assembly of God. Above right: It’s Valentine’s Day 1975 – time to express some love!

One of Marty’s big musical events for his London Jr. High Jazz Band was an appearance at the annual Oak Lawn Jazz Festival. While our group never won any big awards, it was always a rewarding experience for the kids to hear a number of quality high school and college jazz bands from around the Chicago area. On Saturday, February 1, 1975, it was particularly enjoyable knowing that Marty was scheduled for dinner at Sandy’s after a long day at the festival.

As you can see from the February calendar (above), Sandy & Marty had several get-togethers, with each one leading to more and more awareness that they were, indeed, in love with each other, and were both seriously considering the idea that marriage just might be the direction where all this was heading.

Interestingly, the weekend of February 7-8-9, 1975, Sandy made a quick trip to Elkhart on her own, and it was during that visit when Sandy’s mom, LaVonne, shocked her a bit by saying it will be fine to have the wedding in Chicago whenever they were ready! Meanwhile, back in Buffalo Grove, Marty went car shopping and traded his 1968 Chevy Nova for a sporty 1975 Buick Skyhawk! Now, he’s drivin’ in style in his orange leisure suit and his orange sports car!

Big days included: Friday, February 14, 1975 – Valentine’s Day – going out for a pizza; Monday, February 17, 1975, when Marty and Sandy have the “big talk” about what marriage meant to each of them; followed by a conversation on Tuesday, February 18, 1975 with Sandy “professing” her love to Marty. Yikes. This is getting really serious, really fast!

Later that same week, on Thursday night, February 20, 1975, Marty makes The Phone Call that brought all the pieces together. Knowing his parents were coming into town that weekend, and also knowing that they were bringing with them a family wedding ring that he had told his parents he’d like to use in proposing to Sandy, he decided that he better “test the waters” and “pop the question” while he was on the phone with Sandy vs. waiting until they could see each other in person on Saturday. To this day, Sandy still kids Marty about proposing to her over the phone, but with that said, he considers it good preemptive planning, making sure the deal was “on” before he pulled out a ring in person!

So, at 12:20 A.M. on Friday, February 21, 1975, Marty finally gets up the nerve to ask the big question, and fortunately, Sandy said ‘yes’ – so by 1:30 A.M., they both realized how late it was and that they both needed to get up and go teach in less than six hours – so the phone call ended! Mission accomplished. Sandy Unrue was now “un-officially” engaged to Marty Boller! The deal was on!

The next day – Saturday February 22, 1975 – with George & Dixie Boller rolling into town with the ring, Marty “officially” offered Sandy the engagement ring, she accepted, and the wedding preparations were now underway. With the date set for Saturday, July 12, 1975, there was less than five months of time with lots of details to take care of! Truth be known, Marty hinted on The Phone Call that they should get married sooner vs. later, but Sandy, the practical one who wanted a nice wedding, put her foot down, so the compromise was July 12 – resulting in 141 days! But who’s counting, right?

*Another interesting tidbit to throw in here before we leave these earliest moments in Marty & Sandy’s budding relationship: Sandy’s Little God-Whisper – heard back on Saturday, March 2, 1974 – that day Marty & Sandy first met. On that spring day in Round Lake, Illinois, as Sandy was riding back home to Wheeling on a school bus full of kids, she heard a little voice whispering in her ear…

“You’re going to be Mrs. Boller someday!”

We find it interesting that both Marty’s mom – Dixie (Boyer) Boller – and Sandy experienced that little “voice” upon meeting their future husbands! Suffice to say, both Marty’s dad – George Boller – and Marty is glad for those little nudges from the Lord – encouraging their future spouse to lean in toward the crazy idea of marrying a Hawkeye!