Tue. Nov 26th, 2024

Former Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who died last week in Florida, will lay in state at the Capitol from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 3 before her funeral at 2:30 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Hartford.

“The residents of Connecticut are invited to pay tribute to Gov. Rell’s lasting legacy,” the office of Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday.

Rell, who was 78 at the time of her death, was a member of the Episcopal Church, though she often attended Mass with her son, Michael, whose family is Catholic. Her services at the Cathedral are being held with the special permission of the archdiocese.

Arrangements were being finalized Tuesday, but one of the speakers will be Ray Dunaway, the former WTIC-AM morning host, who became a family friend.

Rell will be buried at the Connecticut State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown alongside her husband, Lou Rell, a former Navy aviator who died in 2014. Internment will be private.

Rell was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1984 and served for 10 years, then was elected lieutenant governor in 1994. She became governor in 2004 after the resignation of Gov. John G. Rowland and was elected to a full term in 2006.

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