Montgomery natives first to wed at new village hall
By Linda Girardi For The Beacon-News August 16, 2012 1:34PM
Lifelong Montgomery residents Lola Krantz and John Stathis pose for a portrait in front of the Montgomery Village Hall entrance on Tuesday, August 14, 2012. The couple will be married on the grounds of the village hall on Saturday and will be the first couple to do so since the new facility opened in 2008. | Jeff Cagle~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: September 18, 2012 6:09AM
MONTGOMERY — Childhood friends Lola Krantz and John Stathis will marry near the sounds of rushing waters, red rose buds and the pink petals of Japanese anemone.
Although it is not at a beachfront luxury resort in the tropics, it is an ideal venue for a couple with lifelong roots in Montgomery.
“We used to walk these streets as kids and go to the carnival in the 1960s,” Krantz said.
On Saturday, Krantz and Stathis will be the first couple to wed on the steps of the Montgomery Village Hall, where they decided a manmade re-circulating tributary creek flanked by colored pavers representing bends of the Fox River and gardens would create a unique setting to exchange their wedding vows.
The village headquarters on North River Street was a $12.7 million project completed in 2008.
“It’s tranquil to hear the rushing water,” Krantz said.
“Originally we were going to go before a Justice of the Peace at the Kendall County Courthouse, but we mutually agreed an outdoor setting as this would be pretty,” Krantz said.
But before Krantz and Stathis — both in their graying years — could follow through with matrimonial plans to give love a second chance, they had to get permission from an unlikely source.
The Montgomery Village Board had to take a formal vote to OK the wedding on the village campus. “Usually votes of the Village Board take time, but the mayor (Marilyn Michelini) was really sweet about it,” Krantz said.
The couple approached the Village Board about having the wedding ceremony outdoors and a contingency plan for indoors if it rained.
“The village is very excited to see residents making use of the facility in new ways,” said Jeff Zoephel, Montgomery’s acting village administrator.
‘Nice place to begin’
Krantz said their three grown children will be present Saturday and her longtime friend Ann Jacobson will be her matron of honor, while her 9-year-old niece will be her flower girl.
Pastor Mark Flory Steury of the Neighborhood Church of the Brethren in Boulder Hill said he was surprised to hear they will be the first couple to wed at Village Hall.
“It’s a beautiful location and a nice place to begin a marriage. I assumed other people had gotten married there,” Flory Steury said.
Krantz works in the health insurance industry and Stathis retired from Armor Dial after 30 years. They reconnected eight years ago after years apart.
Although they live in Yorkville now, Stathis said their allegiance is to Montgomery. His father, Chris Stathis, was the Montgomery postmaster for 30 years and his 85-year-old mother still lives in town — and his grandparents lived two blocks from the new Village Hall.
“We were dyed in the wool of Montgomery,” Stathis said.
