The state Capitol is preparing for hundreds, if not thousands, of people to pay respects to one of Connecticut’s most popular leaders on Tuesday. Former Gov. M. Jodi Rell will lie in state at the Capitol before a public funeral Mass.

The 78-year-old Rell died on Nov. 20 following a brief illness.

When Jodi Rell took office in 2004, she invited the public to meet her inside the Capitol. Rell wanted to restore trust after her predecessor. Gov. John Rowland, resigned in scandal.

“I needed to do that,” Rell told News 12 Connecticut in 2010. “It wasn’t for me. It was for the people of Connecticut.”

On Tuesday, the public will line up at the same spot – near the statue of Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale – but this time to pay their respects. Starting at 9 a.m., police will escort Rell's body to the state Capitol. At 9:30 a.m., an Honor Detail will receive the former governor’s casket at the Capitol’s North Entrance, facing Bushnell Park. From 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., Rell’s body will lie in state next in the East Atrium, near the Nathan Hale statue.

Capitol Police are asking the public to park in the Legislative Office Building garage and line up at the main entrance to the Capitol. Rell’s family will be there to greet visitors.

At 2:30 p.m., a hearse will bring Rell to a funeral Mass at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford. Gov. Ned Lamont is one of three speakers.

“She loved people,” he said Monday. “Everybody I’ve talked to, thinking about what I was going to say, has mentioned the little things that made a difference in their life – the little things that she did.”

Rell's son, former Wethersfield Mayor Mike Rell, and longtime WTIC radio host Ray Dunaway will also speak.

“I worked with Gov. Rell for many years as attorney general when she was governor,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who will be unable to attend due to a Senate session. “We disagreed, but it was always civil. And she was one of the more gracious public officials who served in Hartford.”

Rell will be buried at the Connecticut State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown next to her husband Lou, a Navy veteran. Her burial will be private.

Lamont has ordered flags to fly at half staff until Tuesday evening.