KINDERHOOK, N.Y. – Twenty-two members of the New York Air National Guard marked the 235th birthday of Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States and the man who helped popularize the term "OK," during a graveside service in Kinderhook on Tuesday.
Brig. Gen. Timothy LaBarge, the chief of staff for the New York Air National Guard, and Command Chief Master Sgt. Dennny Richardson, from the 109th Airlift Wing, joined local residents in honoring Van Buren by placing a wreath at his grave on behalf of President Donald J. Trump as a light rain began to fall.
A wreath from the sitting president is traditionally placed at the gravesites of former presidents on the anniversary of their birth. Placing the wreath at Van Buren's grave in the Dutch Reformed Cemetery in Kinderhook is the responsibility of the New York National Guard's Joint Force Headquarters.
While Martin Van Buren was not one of the nation's Founding Fathers—he was born in 1782, six years after the Declaration of Independence—he was a visionary who helped put the United States on a "path to greatness," LaBarge said in his remarks.
Van Buren believed in the words of the Declaration of Independence, which states that "all men are created equal" and was one of the first members of the Free Soil Anti-Slavery Party, LaBarge told the audience of about 50 people.
The 109th Airlift Wing provided a chaplain, Airmen for an honor cordon, buglers and a color guard for the short ceremony.
The National Park Service, which administers the Martin Van Buren Historic Site, which includes Lindenwald, the farm Van Buren called home, also took part in the event and presented a wreath.
Wreaths were also presented from the town of Kinderhook, Columbia County, New York, the Kinderhook Garden Club and the Friends of Lindenwald, a group which supports the historic site.
Fourth graders from Ichabod Crane Elementary School in Valatie, New York, took part in the ceremony and presented a narrative of Van Buren's life.
Van Buren, who served in the White House from 1837 to 1841, was born in Kinderhook on Dec. 5, 1782. He was the first president who was not born a British subject, and grew up speaking Dutch at home.
Van Buren, who was nicknamed the Red Fox of Kinderhook because of his red hair and political acumen, served as New York's governor, then as secretary of state, as vice president, and played a key role in the creation of the Democratic Party.
He was also known nicknamed "Old Kinderhook" because of his hometown, and reportedly helped popularized the term "OK" because he scrawled those initials on papers he approved of.
After two unsuccessful runs for president after his only term as president, he retired to his Lindenwald estate outside Kinderhook and died there on July 24, 1862.