Thomas MacMillan Photos
Mourners greet the Harp family.
Battell Chapel Friday was filled with singing, praying, and warm-hearted remembrances of Wendell Carl Harp.
Harp, a prominent architect and developer and the leading black political powerbroker of his generation, died last Friday evening of colon cancer at the age of 64. His passing surprised even many people close to him; he kept his condition private as he conducted a busy professional and personal life to the end.
Click here to read a tribute to Harp, a detailed obituary, and dozens of personal comments posted by readers.
State Sen. Toni Harp was the last to view the body before the closing of the casket.
Some 500 people attended Harp’s two-hour funeral at Battell Friday. The crowd included all the surviving prominent black political figures of the past few decades, including former State Treasurer Hank Parker, former State Rep. Jan Parker, former State Rep. Bill Dyson, NAACP honcho Roger Vann, State Supreme Court Justice Lubbie Harper, current state legislators Tony Walker and Gary Holder-Winfield; statewide African-American leaders such as Hartford’s Carrie Saxon Perry, Connecticut’s first female African-American mayor, and Bridgeport’s Charles Tisdale; and community activists like Black Panther George Edwards and Hill organizer Ann Boyd. Other prominent attendees included current State Rep. Pat Dillon, aldermen such as Andrea Jackson-Brooks of the Hill, former Board of Aldermen President Tomas Reyes, former U.S. Rep. Larry DeNardis, and State Senate President Don Williams.
All knew Wendell Harp, who though a private figure had his hand in most of the major political battles of the past 35 years. Harp’s wife, Toni, is a long-serving state senator.
In one of the day’s many tributes, Brian Jenkins, a former alderman who now lives in the Atlanta area, took issue with one published description of Harp as “misunderstood.”
“Wendell wasn’t misunderstood,” Jenkins declared. “He was with you or he was against you. Everyone knew where he stood.”
That drew knowing chuckles and head-bobs from the crowd, many of whom were veterans of New Haven’s political battles.
Clifton Graves, whom Harp drafted to run for mayor this year, recalled weekly strategy sessions with Harp: Graves waiting while Harp met with local teens who would bring in their homework for him to review, and whom he would give jobs.
“That was Wendell Harp,” Graves said.
Several speakers noted the many people Harp mentored, teaching them business skills, encouraging their educational careers, giving them jobs. And Harp’s grown children, Djana, Jamil, and Wendell Matthew, spoke movingly of the life lessons their father taught them in religious morals, perseverance, and love.
The last speaker was Brother John Stewart. He said Harp had asked him to speak at the funeral about one subject — Harp’s embrace of a religious life and his devotion to God. Stewart spoke of long and enthusiastic hours Harp spent studying and participating in services at the Church of Christ on Gem Street in Newhallville.
The family asked that donations be made to the following educational institutions:
New Haven Scholarship Fund
c/o Mr. Peter Stolzman
20 Peddlars Drive
Branford CT 06405
Howard University
Development and Alumni Relations
2225 Georgia Avenue, NW, Suite 616
Washington DC 20059
Donations can be made by check or money order, with appropriate notation “…in Memory of Wendell Harp.”
Dana Fripp sang a solo.
Mourners bow their heads in prayer.
Kimberly Haynes also soloed.
Harp’s partner George Bumbray.
Harp’s family.
Harp’s longtime friend Felix Delatorre traveled from Florida to offer remembrances.
