Former Connecticut House Speaker Francis Collins Dies at 92

Francis J. Collins of Oxford, a Republican who served as Connecticut’s House speaker from 1973 to 1975, has died at age 92. Collins, a U.S. Army veteran and founder of the Danbury-based Collins-Hannafin law firm, represented the 107th District from 1967 to 1975 and briefly ran for governor. A funeral Mass is scheduled for Saturday at St. Joseph Church in Brookfield, with calling hours Friday at Jowdy-Kane Funeral Home in Danbury.