Van Buren Park lodge renamed to honor Marine Corporal Kyle Schneider

The lodge at Van Buren Park now carries the name of Cpl. Kyle R. Schneider, a Baldwinsville-area Marine who died in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, at 23. The Town of Van Buren Town Board approved the renaming in June 2026, turning a building used for park gatherings into a permanent marker of one local family’s loss and service.

Town leaders tied the decision to the Schneider family’s long-running presence at the park. For many summers, the family has held an annual fundraiser there, and the lodge already served as a hub for the Cpl. Kyle Schneider Honor & Remember Run/Walk 5K, which is held on Armed Forces Day and starts at Van Buren Park. Event materials say the lodge is used for packet pickup and event operations, making the naming less like a ceremonial gesture and more like recognition of a place the memorial tradition already relied on.

Schneider’s life story is rooted in the same community that now sees his name on the building. He was born in Syracuse, raised in the Baldwinsville area, graduated from Baker High School and spent a year at Onondaga Community College. He served with 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, before dying on June 30, 2011.

The renaming gives Van Buren Park a second identity, as both recreation space and remembrance site. Families, veterans and runners who gather there now pass a lodge that points back to a hometown Marine and the foundation his family built to keep his memory visible. In a park that also draws youth sports and other civic events, the sign on the lodge turns an everyday stop into a reminder of service, sacrifice and the people in Onondaga County who still carry that story forward.