EAST HAMPTON, Conn. (AP) – Former Gov. William Atchison O’Neill was remembered Thursday as a humble man who likened himself to a work horse instead of a political show horse, hoping to improve the lives of everyday citizens.

An East Hampton tavern keeper who rose through the ranks of Connecticut politics, O’Neill never strayed from his roots. He died Saturday in his beloved home on the shore of Lake Pocotopaug. He was 77 and had suffered from chronic emphysema.

He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Natalie “Nikki” O’Neill.

“He never lost himself in the glare of being governor,” Gov. M. Jodi Rell said during her eulogy. “He was simply Bill O’Neill.”

O’Neill was the last Democrat to hold the state’s highest office.

He was first elected to the General Assembly as a state representative in 1966. Years later, he was lieutenant governor when Gov. Ella T. Grasso resigned on Dec. 31, 1980 due to ill health. O’Neill took over and Grasso died about a month later.

“He steadied the state at a time that its heart was broken,” Rell said.

O’Neill was later elected to full terms in 1982 and 1986. His 10 years, 10 days in office made him the longest-serving governor of the state in the 20th century.

Close adviser and friend Jim Wade described O’Neill as a modest, humble man who was more proud of his state, Irish heritage, Catholic faith and his staff than himself.

O’Neill, he said, considered himself a fiscal conservative who wanted to make sure “the little guy” enjoyed the same benefits he had in life.

Politics was a calling “from which he did not shrink,” Wade said.

“He had no fear. His political instincts and his street savvy were dead on,” Wade said. “He was proud of the office of governor and he was fiercely conscious of how his conduct would reflect on the office.”

O’Neill’s administration was criticized early for indecisiveness. But he later won praise for his response to the Mianus River Bridge collapse on Interstate 95 in Greenwich. Three people were killed in the June 1983 tragedy. O’Neill responded with a 10-year, $6.5 billion road and bridge repair plan.

Throughout O’Neill’s small eastern Connecticut hometown on Thursday there were displays of appreciation for the favorite son. The sign “God Bless Governor O’Neill” was erected outside Governor’s Tavern, O’Neill’s former business and a favorite haunt where he always ordered a half order of tenderloin tips and a side order of mashed potatoes.

The funeral at St. Patrick Church, where O’Neill once served as an altar boy, drew dozens of politicians, religious leaders, an actress and just plain folks.

U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd left the presidential campaign trail to attend the services. Former Lt. Gov. Joseph Fauliso, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney and John Larson, former Gov. John G. Rowland, state constitutional officers, legislative leaders, Democratic Party officials and many of O’Neill’s old political loyalists and East Hampton neighbors were on hand. Actress Susan Saint James, who worked with O’Neill on charity events, also paid her respects.

While Hartford Archbishop Henry Mansell, Bishop Michael Cote of the Norwich Diocese and former Bishop Daniel Reilly of Norwich and Worcester, Mass. attended, O’Neill’s parish priest presided over the Mass.

“Today you make me feel like the pope of East Hampton,” said the Rev. Charles R. LeBlanc.

LeBlanc spent time with O’Neill during his final days. He spoke of the strong bond between O’Neill and his wife, Nikki, who brought her ailing husband home to receive Hospice care after months of trips between the hospital and a nursing home.

At one point, LeBlanc addressed his remarks directly to O’Neill’s widow seated in the front row.

“Nikki, I am marveled at your faithful love of your darling William,” he said.

Wade also spoke of the loyalty O’Neill engendered right until the end, including from the state troopers who protected O’Neill while he was governor.

“They were the sons he never had,” Wade said.

Two of those troopers were at O’Neill’s bedside in the final days, feeding him when he could no longer do so himself.

As the hearse carrying the former governor left the church for the burial, it passed beneath a large U.S. flag stretched across Route 66 by two East Hampton fire department ladder trucks in a final hometown salute.

Along the route, handfuls of everyday citizens stood along the road and watched the procession. A sign in Portland proclaimed the town’s love for the former governor. Firefighters in Middletown stood at attention.

An Air Force veteran of the Korean War, O’Neill was buried with military honors in the Connecticut State Veteran’s Cemetery in Middletown. Two military jets made a flyover while a bugler played “Taps.” Maj. Gen. Thaddeus Martin, head of the Connecticut National Guard, presented Nikki O’Neill with the American flag that draped her husband’s casket.

The late governor helped establish the cemetery 22 years ago, securing the federal funds to buy the land. A letter containing his request to be buried there with his fellow veterans, as well his hand-drawn map of his plot, had been stored for years in a safe at the state Veterans Affairs department, said Veterans Affairs Commissioner Linda Schwartz.

He was buried in a special section of the cemetery near its entrance.

In the end, Bill O’Neill was exactly where he wanted to be.

“We’ll take good care of him,” Schwartz said.

AP-ES-11-29-07 1831EST