Celebrating Our 50th Wedding Anniversary.

On July 12, 2025, Marty & Sandy Boller celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary!
In celebration of these five decades of wedded bliss, we 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 10-day mid-July honeymoon.

Here’s a menu link to the four pages of 1975 – 2025 Celebrating 50 Years Of Marriage:
Vol. I – March 2, 1974 to February 22, 1975 – The First Dates.
Vol II – February 22, 1975 to July 11, 1975 – Planning A Wedding.
Vol III – July 12, 1975 – The Special Day.
Vol IV – July 13 – July 26 – The Honeymoon.

And 50 years later – in the summer of 2025 – we decided to by-pass the traditional exotic trip or big one-day party, and chose to celebrate our 50 years of marriage with a series of three smaller, family-oriented events. So, here on this page, we review our trio of ‘Remember The 50!’ celebrations…

On the actual day of our celebration – July 12, 2025, Marty & Sandy’s kids treated them to a special, romantic dinner at The Vue Rooftop Restaurant in Downtown Iowa City…

Above left: Our good friends from Canada – Wayne & Sabrina MacQueen sent this beautiful poem that Sabrina wrote for this special occasion. Above right: Marty & Sandy re-create the “wedded hands” photo from July 12, 1975.

Two weeks after our actual anniversary date – on July 26, 2025 – our immediate family gathered at David & Niki Boller’s house in Cedar Rapids for an “official” 50th Wedding Anniversary Party. Quite the celebration it was! See all the pics above & below…

Our Remember The 50! Tour started on Saturday, August 9, 2025 with an evening stay at the Pendry Hotel in downtown Chicago. Located on the corner of Wabash & Michigan, we were right in the heart of The Loop.

The evening began with a spicy chicken dinner at Nando’s on Michigan Avenue – known for its famous Peri Peri sauce.

And now, for the centerpiece of our tour…

We saw Herb Alpert at Iowa City’s Englert Theatre in September 2023 – read more here – but when we heard that Herb – age 90 – was doing a reunion tour with The Tijuana Brass, we knew this concert in Chicago would become the highlight of our Celebrate The 50! Tour…

So, after dinner, it was off to the Harris Theater, with two Row E seats at the sold out concert.

Thanks to Herb’s Facebook account, we have some great pics taken during the amazing 90-minute performance…

The concert opened with Herb’s first hit – The Lonely Bull – from 1962…

As Herb and the Brass played hit after hit, the crowd loved every moment. Below left, Herb sings, “This Guy’s In Love With You” (1968) and below right, plays his 1980 #1 single – “Rise”…

Traveling with Herb on this tour is his wife of 52 years – Lani Hall, who was lead vocalist with Sergio Mendes and Brazil ’66. Interestingly, this was a big homecoming for the Chicago native who started her singing career as a teenager on Rush Street…

Wow! What an unforgettable evening in Chicago…

The next day – Sunday, August 10 – began with a beautiful morning stroll in Chicago’s Millennium Park…

After catching up with some old friends at the Vineyard Church in Evanston, we headed north to Highland Park, to take in an evening at Ravinia…

A beautiful evening on the lawn at Ravinia while also catching up with some great, old friends from Evanston – Tom & Tish Suk…

Monday, August 11 focused on visiting our old hometown – Evanston, Illinois. We started the day by taking a long walk around the Northwestern University campus and strolling in the one of the beautiful parks located near downtown Evanston – on Lake Michigan…

Then, it was off to nearby Skokie to visit the spot where our marriage first began – North Shore Assembly of God. It was here – 50 years earlier – where Sandy & Marty spoke their wedding vows.

As you can see from the pics below, we even tried re-creating one of Sandy’s “wedding dress” moments just outside the basement door…

The day ended with a memorable trip back into Evanston, swinging by our four-flat at 1110 Seward Street before heading over to our old Madison Place neighborhood where we spent an enjoyable afternoon with our dear friends, Bob & Maureen Eme.