David A. Butkiewicz

David was born in Detroit and grew up in Livonia.  He attended grade school at St. Genevieve, a short stint at Riley Junior High and then graduated from Bishop Borgess High School in 1976.  He attended Schoolcraft College where he earned an Associate’s Degree and went to work at Ford Motor Company.  While employed with Ford, he managed to have a patent named after him; however, you know Ford Motor Company, and he was only acknowledged via a certificate but a great achievement all the same.  David worked at various companies throughout his career and after Ford Motor Company, he went on to KMS, AMPS and then Terumo Medical where he was developing and designing heart value pumps.   David moved out to Ypsilanti and then to Pinckney and resided there for about the last 20 years.  He loved the wide open land, 10 acres of his property and his pole barn.  He designed the pole barn to his specifications which included a heated floor and a conveyor belt to hoist items to and from the loft in the pole barn.  He was book smart yet very street wise kind of guy.  He was very meticulous in everything he did.  He would buy or take a basic item and before he would use it or show it off, it was made “turbo” and was unlike anything anyone else had.    Dave was a great son and brother; he regularly attended all family functions from birthdays through the holidays.  He would put a smile on mom’s face when he walked in the door and said: “Hi Mom, I’m home”.    David had a wood working hobby as well.  He made beautiful hand-tooled wood pieces from pens/pencils to salt/pepper shakers to ornamental pieces in his spare time, a few of which are proudly mounted in mom/dad’s house along with a wooden gazebo which he proudly made for mother’s special request and it still stands in their backyard today.   If you knew David, he loved his guns and he had plenty of them.  He was proud to show off to his younger brother Dan who he took to the shooting range on his birthday - they spent the afternoon shooting skeet at the Howell Gun Club he belonged to.  Dan once asked if Dave could look at a gun he had as it wasn’t working and Dave took it apart, cleaned the gun, found the problem and put it all back together that afternoon, much to Dan’s surprise – he was very knowledgeable about guns of all kinds.   He truly enjoyed hunting and fishing especially with Uncle Bob at his cottage in Alpena, Michigan.   Every now and then David and Dad would take long weekends and go up to Bob’s cottage and the three of them fished, probably drank a few beers and enjoyed life and good times together.  David never missed hunting season at Uncle Bob’s cottage either – bringing or building deer blinds was almost always the topic afterwards when the family was gathered for Thanksgiving.   David also fished in Canada and did multiple fly-ins with his childhood buddy and best friend, Tom Andrews.  They had many stories to share of their adventures fishing, camp fires, barely-there accommodations in the middle of God’s country and, of course, falling down, getting lures stuck in their hands or fingers and critters that weren’t expected at camp – we heard many stories and know they had a blast.   David loved fishing so much that he and Dad bought a fishing boat – David named her 2 Buck$.  Together they fished many local lakes and the big lakes too when the weather permitted.  Of course, they also took her up north to Bob’s place and fished the big water.  His boat was loaded with downriggers, depth and fish finders of all sorts.  Not to mention a 90 horse, a 10 horse kicker and, of course, a wireless trolling motor.  David loved to talk boats and boating with Billy, his brother-in-law, who always helped him out with a mechanical question about motors, his boat or boat motors.  One day he asked if he could bring the boat over to see why she was running so rough.  Well, after Billy cleaned the carburetors and put the motor back together, they took 2 Bucks$ to the lake for a test run.  David couldn’t be happier to hear the roar of the motor and that smile on his face will never be forgotten.   David’s niece Christina is another family member who put a big smile on his face.  Christina went over to Uncle David’s house one Saturday afternoon to do some horseback riding as David had a neighbor who had a few horses that were her babies and didn’t allow anyone to ride them.  However, as David and his neighbor’s friendship grew, he told her about his niece who would love to ride her horses and so they did.  We all remember the stories about that beautiful day, including brother Dan who was so proud of his daughter and brother Dave as well.   David loved sports and played hockey most of his life right up until the last five years or so but had to stop due to knee injuries – knees are not good in the Butkiewicz family.  He also loved to take journeys on his mountain bike in his spare time.  He golfed on leagues for years and won quite a few trophies.   David coached his sister Diane’s softball team in Livonia that she and her girlfriends played on together for many years.  He often referred to Diane as Baby Sister or Dine Dine.   Unfortunately, Dave started having some minor cognitive issues and sought treatment and was informed that he had frontal lobe dementia.  It’s a rare dementia and for a couple of years you may not notice the signs or symptoms until it advances a few years in the disease process.  Once Dave was diagnosed in November 2014, his life expectancy was about 2 to 5 years.  Well, David didn’t make it 2 years from his diagnosis and, thus, we are here at this point in time.   We are all striving for peace over David’s passing so please remember friends and family, David would want you to relive the good times you had with him, the times you laughed with him, the times you went to deer camp, fishing with him, a round or two of golf, maybe a joke at the work place (ID10T), or even a couple of beers with him.  He definitely would NOT want you to mourn or grieve for him as he is not here anymore – he’s in your heart and memories. David came to mom in a dream last week with his normal “Hi Mom – I’m home” and when she went to great him, he walked out her front door saying: “Mom, I’m free”.  And that is what we believe; he is now free of the constraints of the disease he contracted and is fishing in the big lake in the sky and showing St. Pete how fishing is done!   Please David alive by thinking about him, sharing the good memories of him and all the good times you had together during his short lifetime.  Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers during this time of great loss in our family.   Ed and Jean Butkiewicz Diane and Billy Reynolds Daniel and Christina Butkiewicz   Final Visiting will be held Friday, September 23, 2016 from 9:00 AM until the time of the Memorial Mass at 10:00 AM at St. Priscilla Catholic Church, 19120 Purlingbrook, Livonia, 48152. Please share a memory.