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Residents urge restoration of Dr. Cornelius recognition at new senior center; board to refer naming policy
Summary
Residents at Windsor Locks’ Oct. 21 Board of Selectmen meeting pressed officials to restore recognition of Dr. Cornelius at the new senior center and asked that artifacts be displayed; the board said it will pursue community conversations and refer the naming policy and artifact preservation to the historical commission.
Residents at the Windsor Locks Board of Selectmen meeting on Oct. 21 urged the board to restore formal recognition of Dr. Cornelius and to preserve and display his memorabilia in the new senior center.
Mr. Montalarillo, who opened public comment, said the omission of Dr. Cornelius’s name from the new facility was “an atrocity,” accused the current project team of mismanagement and said the town should consider moving to a town-manager form of government to improve oversight. Philip Devlin, who identified himself as the doctor’s biographer, recounted Dr. Cornelius’s historic role at Hartford Hospital and said the town had a responsibility to ensure suitable recognition.
The chair responded that the letters and public comments made clear the concern and that the issue, as understood by the board, is recognition within the building rather than renaming the whole facility. The chair said the matter requires community discussion and additional input from the senior leadership and the historical commission before any final decision is made. “I think there has to be a conversation so that this is a community effort to recognize Dr. Cornelius,” the chair said.
Other residents suggested alternatives short of renaming — portrait placement, dedicated display cases and curated artifact exhibits — and warned that historical items should not simply be placed in closets or basements where they could be lost. The board said it would add the matter to future agendas, refer the naming policy and artifact-preservation questions to the historical commission, and seek a community-supported resolution.
The board did not adopt any formal policy change at the meeting; instead, members directed staff to continue conversations with senior-center leadership and the historical commission and to return to the board with options for a satisfactory, visible form of recognition.
Next steps: the board will pursue a public process with the historical commission and senior-center leadership to identify suitable recognition and display options for Dr. Cornelius and other historic town figures.
