GARFIELD HONORED

Former president remembered by community before 187th birthday

“President Garfield’s presidency is remembered as one of honesty and of character.” — Major General Patrick J. Reinert

James A. Garfield was not yet 50 years old when he was assassinated, but in a life cut short he left a legacy of “hard work and highest ideas,” Major General Patrick J. Reinert said.

Reinert was the keynote speaker Nov. 17 at the annual wreath laying at the Lakeview Cemetery James A. Garfield Memorial held for the president’s birthday. Garfield’s 187th birthday is Nov. 19.

Every year the sitting U.S. President sends a high-ranking military official to place a wreath at the burial site of all deceased former presidents on their birthday.

Reinert serves as the commanding general of the 88th

Reading Division. That division is responsible for the base operation support of all army reserve soldiers, families and civilians in the Northern United States from the Ohio River Valley to the Pacific Coast.

“Our nation only had a short time to benefit from his tremendous abilities and intellect as President of the United States,” Reinert said.

Garfield was only four months into his term as president when an assassin shot him on July 2, 1881. He would die 80 days later, two months short of his 50th birthday.

“President Garfield’s presidency is remembered as one of honesty and of character,” Reinert said. “He believed government should be true and good. He encouraged citizens to take their photo responsibilities seriously.”

He described the 20th president’s life as one that was “strong and true.”

“(Garfield) once said that territory is but a body of a nation. The people who inhabit its hills and valleys are its soul, its spirit and its life.”

The Cleveland Opera Theater sang from the balcony throughout the event. Many descendants of the president’s family were also on hand.

“President Garfield was a man some would say was ahead of his time,” his great great grandson Tim Garfield said. “A man who felt all were created equally.”

ANDREW CASS — THE NEWS-HERALD Tim Garfield looks at the statue of his great great grandfather President James A. Garfield Nov. 17at a wreath laying ceremony in honor of the president’s 187th birthday.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Depicted in this undated illustration from an old print, the inauguration of President James A. Garfield in 1881by Supreme Court Justice Noah H. Swayne.