For the first time since Gov. Ella Grasso, a Connecticut political leader will lie in state Wednesday at the state Capitol.
Nelson Brown, the youngest House Speaker in state history when he was elected at the age of 35, will receive the rare honor when his closed casket will be on view in the north lobby that faces Bushnell Park in Hartford.
Brown, a Groton Republican who served as Speaker for two years starting in 1957, was known at the Capitol most recently as a lobbyist on freedom of information issues. He died last week at the age of 89.
D'Ann Mazzocca, the administrator who oversees operations at the Capitol, said state officials are not aware of anyone who has received the honor since Grasso. Brown's family requested that he lie in state, and the request was granted by the current House Speaker, Christopher Donovan, and the Senate President Pro Tempore, Donald Williams.
Calling hours, which are open to the public, are from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Brown became best known for his role in what was clearly the most controversial issue at the Capitol in 1957, his first year as speaker. In a rare move, Brown broke a 133 to 133 tie to allow public funding of school buses for private, non-profit schools, including Catholic schools. To this day, public funds are used to provide bus transportation for students in private schools - as long as they reside in the same town as the school. For example, a Hartford resident going to a Hartford private school would receive a free bus ride, but the same student traveling to an out-of-town school would not.
At the time, Hartford Courant political writer Irving Kravsow described the issue as "one of the most controversial measures ever to come before the state legislature.''
The emotional debate was described in The Courant as "a full-blown religious controversy'' that prompted an "inflammatory'' debate. The bill had the strong support of the Catholic Church, but the Connecticut Council of Churches, a Protestant group, fought against the measure.
After a spirited debate that lasted more than five hours, the vote was tied in a moment of high drama. As the tension increased, Brown brought his gavel down and declared, "The chair votes yes. The bill is passed.''
Not long after, then-Gov. Abraham Ribicoff signed the controversial bill into law.
"It was one of those profiles in courage votes,'' said Kevin B. Sullivan, the state tax commissioner who is a former lieutenant governor and former Senate President Pro Tempore. "He had the good fortune of living well beyond that controversy and becoming a favorite of just about everybody. He was a pretty beloved guy.''
Some of the giants of Connecticut politics, including Governors Ribicoff, William A. O'Neill, Thomas Meskill, John Davis Lodge, and Raymond Baldwin, had separate services and did not lie in state at the Capitol. In addition, well-known speakers like James Kennelly of Hartford and R. E. Van Norstrand of Darien did not have the honor. A governor who died while in office more than a century ago, George Lilley, lay in state at the Capitol in 1909.
