Charles and Juliet Balmer recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They were married on Jan. 27, 1973 in Urbana.

Early childhood friends, they both graduated with the 1964 class of Urbana High School. After Chuck earned an Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Dayton and Julie earned a Chemical Engineering degree from Ohio State University, they met again when they both worked at Grimes Manufacturing Company.

Fifteen months later, they were married and two years later, they built their house in Champaign County. Julie eventually retired from Goodrich Aerospace, Wheels and Brakes Division, after 22 years as a Quality Assurance Engineer. After many years in industry and eventually becoming an engineering manager, Chuck decided to go into business for himself as a systems engineering consultant until his retirement in 2006.

They have two sons. Matt is the music director in the Wyandotte, Oklahoma, school system. He and wife Jill live in Joplin, Missouri. Jim is a senior electrical engineer at Toyota Industrial Products in Columbus, Indiana, and lives in Scipio, Indiana.

The couple hosted a gathering of family and friends at their home in honor of the occasion.