Scholarship Spotlight: A Lasting Tribute

Seattle University’s College of Nursing is known for its commitment to educating compassionate and knowledgeable health care professionals. Kim Buike and his late wife, Mary Buike, ’86, experienced this level of care firsthand during Mary’s battle with ovarian cancer. To honor the nurses who cared for her during her three years fighting cancer, Kim and Mary established the Mary Buike Memorial Scholarship.

Mary graduated from SU in 1986 with a degree in Psychology and began her career in the medical field as an orderly in the Radiology Department at Swedish First Hill and Northwest Hospitals, later transitioning to a Certified Physicians’ Coder (CPC) with UW Physicians.

After her 50th birthday, Mary started to feel something was wrong, health wise. Unfortunately, it took nearly a year of medical evaluation for her to receive the proper diagnosis of ovarian cancer, which was already at an advanced stage. During her battle with the disease, Mary actively advocated for increased awareness and early detection of ovarian cancer in hopes of preventing similar misdiagnoses in other women.

“It was important to Mary that her experience would not be repeated and that more women would learn about ovarian cancer early to know symptoms and seek opinions,” says Kim.

One particular nurse, Rachel Bierlein, ‘18, was exceptionally attentive and positive during Mary’s final stay at Swedish First Hill in 2017. Mary and Kim learned Bierlein was working as a Certified Nursing Assistant while enrolled at the College of Nursing and faced the financial burdens of a nursing education. This inspired the creation of an annual scholarship to acknowledge the incredible care Mary received from nurses, especially Bierlein and to tell Mary’s story to future medical professionals.

“Mary loved the idea of establishing a nursing scholarship because it’s a way her story would be told,” says Kim. Mary learned a few days before she passed that the first Mary Buike Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Bierlein.

Kim decided Mary’s story should live on in perpetuity and worked with the SU development team to endow the scholarship. The Mary Buike Memorial Scholarship has now supported seven nursing students, each of whom have met with the family for lunch, where Kim tells them Mary’s story and gives them an ovarian cancer awareness pin. College of Nursing Dean Butch de Castro says, “Kim is dedicated to the success of each scholarship recipient and to ovarian cancer awareness. We are overwhelmingly grateful for his continued partnership through philanthropic support.”

“Most of the recipients have said, ‘I’m going to wear this pin on my badge and when people ask about it, I’m going to tell Mary’s story,’” says Kim. “That is the perfect ongoing connection that Mary would love.”

“Aside from easing some of the financial burden, this scholarship has made me feel seen and understood,” says recent scholarship recipient Kaci Rexilius, ’23. “This scholarship gives me confidence that its contributors believe in me ... and it pushes me to honor Mary by finishing strong and pursuing a lifetime of learning.”

For Kim, sharing Mary’s story with the scholarship recipients and supporting their journeys in health care is a beautiful way to honor Mary’s legacy.

“The idea of a scholarship endowment in perpetuity has a lot of meaning,” says Kim, “and it is important that the family for whom the scholarship is named continues to be involved. When I pass on, I hope Mary’s daughter takes over and I envision Mary’s 8-year-old granddaughter taking over one day. The endowment is a legacy and, in this case, it is Mary’s legacy, one of many.”

Learn more about the College of Nursing and how you can support the endowment.