Fillmore Week Wrap

On Friday, January 6, 2012, Col. John Higgins, the Vice Commander of the New York Air National Guard's 107th Airlift Wing, laid a wreath at the grave of President Millard Fillmore at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo. Col. Higgins acted on behalf of President Barak Obama, since it's now customary for presidential wreaths to be laid at the grave sites of each dead president on the anniversary of their birth. Fillmore, of course, is the first on the calendar.

President Nixon is next. According to The Orange County Register, Rear Adm. Mike Shatynski will represent President Obama at the ceremony at the Nixon Library on January 9, which would have been Nixon's 99th birthday. According to the paper, Edward Nixon, Richard's youngest brother (and now 91) will attend. He is the last of the Nixon siblings.

The University of Buffalo also does not forget Millard Fillmore, who was not only 13th President of the United States, but the first chancellor of that institution. At the same event as Col. Higgins' wreath-laying, A. Scott Weber, UB vice provost and dean of undergraduate education, delivered a memorial address at graveside. This year's commemoration marks the 47th consecutive year UB has organized the ceremony, which dates back to 1937. From 1937 until 1965, the anniversary ceremonies were staged by the city of Buffalo and the Buffalo Board of Education.