Courant.com

For Marlborough Horseman, A Fitting Funeral Procession

MARLBOROUGH — - In the end, it was as he had always pictured.

Wesley Irving Nowsch, a member of the Governor's Horse Guards for more than 60 years, was buried Nov. 7 after a horse-drawn funeral procession to Marlborough Center Cemetery following his death Nov. 5 at age 84.

Nowsch was no stranger to such processions. He participated in many with his friend and longtime colleague John Allegra, owner of the Allegra Farm horse and carriage service in East Haddam.

Allegra said that Nowsch, a horseman who "could drive anything," often spoke about having a horse-drawn funeral procession for himself.

"He had this all planned out," Allegra said. "This is what he wanted. We talked about it quite a bit."

Nowsch's daughter, Karen Currier, said that planning for the funeral procession was one of the first things the family thought of when her father became ill.

"We were all very proud of it," Currier said. "To go out that way with a horse-drawn hearse was what he wanted to do."

A lifelong wrangler, Nowsch joined the Governor's Horse Guards, — a mounted state militia unit first chartered in 1788 — during World War II at age 18 while his five brothers were all off at war. He participated in the guard's various ceremonies, parades, camps and horse shows for the rest of his life.

After the war, all six brothers built houses next to each other on Parker Road, on land given to them by their parents.

Wesley Nowsch then raised a family, working as a truck driver, carpenter, insurance adjuster and a coach for a youth football club.

He raised horses and ran a riding stable on the family farm, Rockledge Ranch, and organized a 4-H program, horse shows and polo clubs.

"All the kids on the street rode," Currier said. "He thought bikes were dangerous and thought we should ride horses, instead."

Later in life, Nowsch met Allegra and spent 20 years as his right-hand man for jobs at Mystic Seaport, Gillette Castle and horse-drawn wedding ceremonies and funeral services throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

"To think that somebody at that age could start another career," Currier said. "He just kept going until he couldn't go anymore."

Nowsch also worked horses and carriages with Allegra for several television shows, documentaries and films, including "The Time Machine" and "Kate & Leopold." He served as Morgan Freeman's carriage driver in the movie " Amistad."

"Anybody he met, he always made them feel like they were the best," Allegra said. "He never put people down. He was always telling you that you were the best."

Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant