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

On July 12, 2025, Marty & Sandy Boller celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary!
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 and continuing right through to their July 12, 1975 wedding, and their 13-day mid-July honeymoon. This third page – dedicated to their wedding day uses material that comes primarily from their wedding photograph album and the wedding memories album.

If you’ve been following our two earlier webpages, you know that:

1) Marty Boller & Sandy Unrue, as music teachers in Wheeling/Buffalo Grove, Illinois, met on March 2, 1974, and over the next 11+ months, got to know each other well enough that on February 21, 1975, Marty popped The Big Question. You can read more here.

2) After Sandy gave her ‘YES’ to Marty on February 21, 1975, the young couple spent the next 4+ months preparing for their Saturday, July 12, 1975 wedding to be held at their home church – North Shore Assembly of God in Skokie, Illinois. You can read more here.

So now, here on this third webpage, we offer you an overview of that special day: from the wedding ceremony itself to the reception that followed. Grab your popcorn and wedding cake…here goes…

Taken directly from our wedding book, here’s the facts and figures of The Special Day.

As we mentioned with the Wedding Invitation, Marty’s father, George Boller, was a printer by trade back in Iowa City, and he graciously printed up our Wedding Program (pictured below) as well…

As the June 22, 1975 church bulletin at North Shore Assembly of God stated (above), because of the small size of the church building, the number of guests invited to the wedding ceremony had to remain on the small side. While Marty & Sandy would have loved to invite more friends, here’s the list of who showed up that day and signed in…

Pictured above: Marty & Sandy (of course); Sandy’s parents: Jack & LaVonne Unrue; Marty’s parents: George & Dixie Boller, Marty’s best man: Eric Boller, Sandy’s Maid of Honor: Janice Unrue, Bridesmaids: Pamela Noble & Lu Ann Unrue. Pictured below: Guest Book: Kristin Unrue; Vocalist: Chris Casey.

Pictured above: Organist: Carol Armstrong; Marty’s Grandmother: Edith Boyer; Eric’s Wife: Marlene Boller; Sandy’s Grandmothers: Mary Holm & Violet Unue; Ushers: Jack Majure & David Unrue.

July 12, 1975 – for your listening pleasure – The Ceremony.

At 2:12 P.M. on July 12, 1975 at North Shore Assembly of God in Skokie, Illinois, Pastor Larry Hurtado pronounced Marty Boller (age 24) of Iowa City, Iowa and Sandy Unrue (age 25) of Elkhart, Indiana “officially” married!

The “Official” Wedding Party: Bridesmaids: Pamela Noble & Lu Ann Unrue; Maid of Honor: Janice Unrue; Sandy & Marty Boller; Pastor Larry Hurtado; Best Man: Eric Boller; Best Men: Daniel Cassidy & James Douglass.

Because of a long-standing wedding “tradition” that said a groom should not “see” his bride until after the ceremony, we decided to take all of our wedding photos at the church after the ceremony. Note to self: never do that again, because the poor wedding guests – who had to travel from the church in Skokie to the reception in Wheeling – had to wait, wait, and more wait for the wedding party to arrive at the reception. Sadly, that made for a really long afternoon for all of us, and if you look closely at a few of the photos, you see some pretty tired faces. Oh well, live and learn, right?

So, the Boller Wedding Party finally arrived at the Wedding Reception held at The Holiday Inn in Wheeling, Illinois. Below are a few photographs from the afternoon…

The Unrue family (above) – Mary Holm, Jack & LaVonne Unrue, Kristin Unrue, Sandy & Marty, Cletus & Violet Unrue, Janice Unrue, Lu Ann & David Unrue. The Boller family (below) Eric & Marlene Boller, Sandy & Marty, George & Dixie Boller, Edie Boyer, and George’s cousin from Wayland, John Dill & Francis Hulme.

Below left: Mark & Debbie Wilson, Monica & Mark Perin. Below right: Glen & Shelley Johnson, Pam Noble & Janet Noble.

Above left: North Shore Assembly Friends including: Joyce (?), Leila Baugh, Blossom Leslie, Steve Nicholson, Penny & Eric Thurman, Ann Wilson, Kristin Johnson, & Tish & Tom Suk. Above right: Tom & Peggy Hudson.

**Just a little side note here from Marty:**
You know that wedding picture of Sandy and me, where we’re sitting in the back seat of my brother Eric’s Toyota as we were on our way from the church to our reception? You know the one I mean. That goofy shot of the smiley girl and the cool 70’s dude with the photo-gray glasses?

There are not many times in your life when you can remember precisely what you were thinking or feeling when you see yourself in a photo. In this case, however, I do. I recall a depth of feelings that I’d never felt before in my 24 years of life, and in all honesty, don’t recall since. In truth, I believe it was the most overwhelming joy of heart I’ve ever experienced. At that moment of time, I was filled to the brim with a deep joy and an appreciative gladness that God had brought Sandy into my life and that the three of us – God, Sandy and me – were meant to be together as a team for the rest of our lives!

**God bless our marriage on this July 12, 1975.**

Of course, just as there were Newspaper Clippings from Marty & Sandy’s engagement announcement – in April & May 1975, so there were an equal amount of clippings from our Wedding Day that came from July & August 1975 newspapers…

And, oh yes. What would a Wedding be without Wedding Gifts. The question, of course, is how many of these gifts are still in the Boller household today – 50 years later?