David Silker had always carried one regret during his adult life: not finishing his bachelor’s degree from St. Cloud State University.
But when Silker’s best friend Bill Buttweiler ‘78 was nearing the end of a cancer battle in late 2015, Buttweiler challenged him to make good on that wish.
Go back and finish a degree from “our” University.
A decade later, 70-year-old Silker fulfilled his end of the deal on May 8 when he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from SCSU.
A full 50 years from when he left SCSU on a hiatus he never anticipated returning from.
“SCSU has always felt like my alma mater,” Silker said. “I’m thrilled to make it official.”
Like Brothers
Silker was born and raised in Rochester, Minn. His father was a math teacher at the junior college in town, and that was where Silker first went to college after graduating from John Marshall High School in 1973.
During that time, he reconnected with his future wife Teresa, whom Silker had dated in high school. She had plans to go to the University of Minnesota to train as a dental hygienist, while he decided to go further north to attend St. Cloud State after earning his associate’s degree in 1975.
He arrived on campus that fall, living on the 13th floor of Sherburne Hall. Majoring in physical education and health with a minor in coaching, he arrived early at his first football coaching class.
While waiting for the classroom doors to open in Halenbeck Hall, Bill Buttweiler sat down next to Silker and introduced himself.
The two became instant friends. Within a year, Silker would ask Buttweiler to be a groomsmen at his wedding in August 1976.
While Buttweiler couldn’t attend the wedding due to football commitments as the university’s starting kicker (where he’d go on to be the team’s leading scorer in 1976), he returned the favor by having Silker serve as one of his groomsman the following year.
“He was such a wonderful person, and we became a part of each other’s families,” Silker recalls. “That friendship was so valuable to us.”
That friendship extended to their wives as well. Silker’s wife Teresa and Buttweiler’s wife Ann both attended the University of Minnesota at the same time, and they found themselves living near each other in the suburbs in Brooklyn Center.
“We spent many evenings together playing games and talking, building a friendship that meant a great deal to me,” Teresa said. “After I graduated, Dave and I moved back to Rochester. A few years later, Bill and Ann also moved to Rochester while Ann was completing her residency at the Mayo Clinic, and we were able to pick up our friendship right where it had left off.”
Over the next 40 years, the couples would celebrate births, baptisms and graduations together, among other key life events.
They were also together in moments of loss, like when Ann died in 2014.
“Bill passed two years later; during his final weeks in the hospital, we spent time together holding hands, talking and reminiscing,” Silker said. “We laughed and cried together … we were like brothers.”
SCSU Graduate
Buttweiler passed away on Jan. 1, 2016. It was during their final visit together when Silker received the request from Buttweiler to finish his degree from SCSU.
Silker had walked away from SCSU after his junior year to marry Teresa, and they soon returned to their hometown of Rochester. Silker would go on to work his way up at IBM for 15 years before spending the last 25 years of his professional career as the operations manager at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.
A few years after retiring in 2021, the seed Buttweiler had planted in his mind to finish his degree began to take root.
“I reached out to SCSU and found out I only had about 15 credits left to complete a degree, and I could do all the classes online,” Silker said. “I wondered why I waited this long.”
He took his first class in Summer 2024, and he steadily took one class a semester until Spring 2026. Teresa, along with their three children who all hold college degrees, continued to be supportive of Silker finishing what he started.
Family from Missouri, Wisconsin, Texas, Pennsylvania and Minnesota were on hand to witness his accomplishment as he walked across the Ritsche Auditorium stage to receive his diploma on May 8.
“Both Bill and Ann showed us how to face life’s challenges with grace,” Teresa said. “I’m especially grateful that David fulfilled Bill’s request to finish his degree.”
Silker and Teresa are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this August. What better year to also celebrate the milestone of a college diploma?
“I’m so glad that I returned to finish my bachelor’s degree at the school that I love and have felt connected to all these years,” Silker said. “Bill’s influence and friendship still lives in my heart today. I love that we now have a further connection as alumni brothers from St. Cloud State.”
Silker capped the weekend by returning to Bill and his wife Ann’s grave in Roseville, Minn.
Along with a freshly issued diploma, he bore the tribute he proudly has inked on his left wrist: an infinity tattoo with Buttweiler’s football number in SCSU red and black.
“Bill and his family got infinity sign tattoos on their wrist when Ann was battling Huntington’s Disease; they’d always say, ‘I love you infinity and back,’” Silker said. “That was the last thing that he told me.”
A fitting nod to a true friend.
