Charles "Chuck" Silliman
March 12, 1929 ~ March 28, 2026
Charles B. Silliman, 97, died March 28, 2026, of natural causes at the Meth-Wick community in Cedar Rapids.
Born in 1929, in Elgin, Illinois, his father died when he was six, and his mother Mabel, a school nurse, raised Chuck, his brother Richard, and sister Joan during the Great Depression. He was very close with his cousins, Don and Bob Schuberg. In high school, Chuck played point guard on a national-championship-winning basketball team, and while still a teenager he sailed to Germany and Poland as a cattle-tender on a humanitarian aid mission after WWII. He majored in History and German at Cornell college, married June M. Webb, and moved with their newborn daughter, Anna, to the University of Oregon to earn a teaching certificate.
Chuck then taught for two years at the Woodstock Country School in South Woodstock, Vermont, before returning to Mount Vernon in 1957, this time with the baby Matthew, in tow. He taught German, History, and English for some years at Jefferson high school in Cedar Rapids before accepting a Fulbright exchange fellowship to teach for a year in Frankfurt, Germany, now with their third child, Emily, along for the ride. The family lived in Cedar Hills for four years, then moved back to Mount Vernon, where Chuck led the foreign language department and taught German at Mount Vernon high school. He loved taking groups of students to Germany. Chuck spent several years mentoring student teachers at Cornell, and after retiring for real he pursued interests in Gothic cathedral architecture and model aircraft, and developed a fascination with archeology, prompted by June’s extensive work on digs all over the world, which she undertook after completing her own career in teaching.
During most of his working career Chuck also served as a United Methodist lay pastor to several rural congregations in Eastern Iowa.
June and Chuck moved to a condominium in Coralville in the early aughts, and later to an apartment at Greenwood in the Meth-Wick community in Cedar Rapids, where June died in the fall of 2022 after 72 years of marriage.
He is survived by his three children, Anna, Matthew, and Emily; their spouses, Peter Dowben, Sharon Wyrrick, and Dale Shultz; and granddaughters, Margaret and Carolyn.
Those who knew Chuck well remember him as always full of stories, jokes and much laughter. And he was a great audience if you had a story to tell him. Rather than sending flowers, please consider a donation in his name to one of Chuck’s favorite local charities, the Matthew 25 Cultivate Hope Corner Store in Cedar Rapids. https://www.matthew-25.org/cultivate-hope-corner-store/
Please share your memories with Chuck’s family on his obituary page at www.stewartbaxter.com under the Obituaries tab.
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My thoughts and sympathy to the Silliman family.
Annamae Baker
Thank you so much for your kind words
Mr. Silliman was an excellent German teacher…and also willingly distracted in class if a student showed curiosity about a (non-German-language) topic. 🙂 Happy to say that he helped provide a strong base for my language learning…I am brushing up on my Deutsch for a trip to Berlin soon and am finding (50 years later) that much of it is still imprinted in my brain! I will always remember Herr Silliman’s smile and happy outlook.
Thanks, Joan. I would love to visit Berlin, also. I hope that trip works out well.
I will miss Chuck’s gentle soul and wonderful smile. He was such a joy to know and visit with, I always felt he would be a wonderful narrator as he voice was so easy to listen too. I’m sure June was glad to welcome him to heaven.
He will be missed for sure.
Thanks, Karen. Dad looked forward to his appointments with you! I think it was about more than just the haircut.
Thank you, David. Chuck held your parents (and you) in equally high regard. I forget most of the stories, but He knew you were an utter poster child for the power of language learning. He was so kind, so personable, and his work was so consequential; of how many people can we say as much?
“Aller Anfang ist schwer.” That’s the first thing Mr. Silliman taught us in August 1976. Right away I knew Mr. Silliman was a good teacher. In college, I realized Mr. Silliman had been a great teacher. That eventually led to my first career, as a diplomat. Now, for my second career, I am a high school teacher. I will never be as good at this as Mr. Silliman. But he is my daily inspiration when I walk into the classroom.
I felt the same way for 35 years as a professor of philosophy: how can I be as lively and effective in the classroom as my Dad?
We were so very lucky to be taught by Herr Silliman. I took 4 years of German with him in the 1970s and can still make my way around the language all these years later.
He was an exceptional teacher, truly one of the best. What a legacy he leaves behind.
Isn’t that amazing, when you think how long ago the ‘70’s was! Thank you for your wonderful comment!
Chuck was one of those special people you are very glad you knew and will always respect and remember. I enjoyed his great sense of humor. Lots of good times, drinking coffee or over meals at Rotary. Great interesting stories and lots of laughs. He will certainly be missed.
I’ll miss you, Sill! I loved your class so much I actually went to Cornell and majored in German… thanks for being a great human to me in high school and thanks for tutoring me in college… rest easy
Herr Silliman was one of my favorite teachers from MVHS. I was even prouder to have him as a mentor when I returned to Mount Vernon and started teaching German. I loved passing down songs, stories and methods over the years that I learned from Charles. A few hits: “Hoch soll sie leben!” “Die Tür there’s a muddy road ahead” “Ein Tisch ist ein Tisch” (Böll) “Die Gedanken sind frei” “Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft” I remember other classics like “Schaulspielhaus” “Guten Tag Luise, Wie geht’s” Chuck had the ability to tell corny stories that helped learn concepts. I learned to tell my own version of that over the years. I remember meeting Duval and Silliman at a social function and learning that us three were three generations of German teacher to student. My favorite moment that I felt an instant connection to Charles and his story of Luther and the printing press was In 2016. I visited a museum near Frankfurt that had a replica of one of the first printing presses that printed the Bible. I have nothing but loving memories and gratitude to Herr Silliman. I hope his family and friends revel in the memories of Charles – laugh and smile wide with a twinkle in their eyes, just like Charles.