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NattyMikeO
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Courrier-Post Vancouver August 30 1970
Warped by Disease Causing Lumpsm Ugliest Man in Canada Dies Without Ever Having a Date
Willie was considered so ugly he couldn't get a job and never had a date. He shaved in the dark because he hated to look at himself in the mirror. His real name was Alex Samuel Chapelski but he had been called "the ugliest man in Canada." He goes to his grave today in Mountain View Cemetery after a life warped by his knobbed, lumpy body and face.
Chapelski died Aug 11, two days short of his 39th birthday. The hospital would not release the cause of death, but it was believed to be from the same disease that scarred his appearance. He was cursed from birth with Von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis, a disease which causes tumors to develop at nerve ends and their connective tissue. While the disease itself is not uncommon, Chapelski was affected to such a rare extent his entire body was covered with hundreds of lumps and bumps. People stopped and stared as he walked city streets.
He was refused service in restaurants because waitresses would, not "approach him. Employers would not look at him for job interviews. They would not hire him. Bartenders would not serve him. Girls would not speak to him.
He said he never had a date. Chapelski dreaded looking at his face. "I was afraid to look," he once told an interviewer, "because my face looked so funny." Turned to Crime He drank by himself in a cheap hotel and once tried suicide. He turned to crime and served three penitentiary terms and four jail sentences in the past 15 years for fraud and fraudulent use of credit cards. The other inmates jeered him and gave him the nickname "Lumpy Willie."
After he was released from the penitentiary in June, 1968, Chapelski went to a plastic surgeon, Dr. Wilkie, who agreed to help him, even though Chapelski could not pay. The plastic surgeon began, working on Chapelski at St. Paul's Hospital on Nov. 18, ,1968. In a two-hour operation, Wilkie surgically removed hundreds of the lumps from Chapelski's face.
It was the first of five operations on Chapelski, a total of 16 hours of surgery. Police Wait Police who were holding warrants for Chapelski's arrest on six charges of fraud, waited until the plastic surgery was completed before arresting hiiro He appeared in British Columbia provincial court on the charges in July, 1969. Lawyer Marvin Storrow represented him without a fee and told the story of "the ugliest man in Canada" to the court. "He has self-confidence and self-respect for the first time and is prepared to attempt to live differently with his different appearance," Storrow summed up. "Society has been harsh to this man.
It may be doctors have given him the first break in life and he should get a chance." Judge Harvey Jessup agreed. He fined Chapelski $35 and one day in jail for each count of fraud. "I am lucky. Honest, I promise, I will never let you down. Thanks, Thanks." Chapelski told Judge Jessup.
He was released from prison a week later, Chapelski went to work, determined to keep his promise to these people who had given him a chance, "I'm tired of running from the police. I'm tired of being in prison. I am tired of being so ugly that I am hated by people who don't even know me," he told a newspaperwoman. "I'm ready to face the world now to be free and to get that job. I have hope now for the first time." He did janitorial work, "collected and sold pop bottles and drew welfare.
Debt paid he was aided by Mrs. Margaret Ricketts, 71, a widow on a pension who provided him with a place to live. He was trying to get a job as a night watchman, said Mrs. Ricketts. "He wanted to work at night, because of his face', you see," she said.
"He, wanted desperately to make amends." With Mrs. Ricketts' help, he paid off his fines, and made good his fraudulent purchases at department stores, out of his welfare check. When he died, the "ugliest man in Canada" had paid his debts..
Warped by Disease Causing Lumpsm Ugliest Man in Canada Dies Without Ever Having a Date
Willie was considered so ugly he couldn't get a job and never had a date. He shaved in the dark because he hated to look at himself in the mirror. His real name was Alex Samuel Chapelski but he had been called "the ugliest man in Canada." He goes to his grave today in Mountain View Cemetery after a life warped by his knobbed, lumpy body and face.
Chapelski died Aug 11, two days short of his 39th birthday. The hospital would not release the cause of death, but it was believed to be from the same disease that scarred his appearance. He was cursed from birth with Von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis, a disease which causes tumors to develop at nerve ends and their connective tissue. While the disease itself is not uncommon, Chapelski was affected to such a rare extent his entire body was covered with hundreds of lumps and bumps. People stopped and stared as he walked city streets.
He was refused service in restaurants because waitresses would, not "approach him. Employers would not look at him for job interviews. They would not hire him. Bartenders would not serve him. Girls would not speak to him.
He said he never had a date. Chapelski dreaded looking at his face. "I was afraid to look," he once told an interviewer, "because my face looked so funny." Turned to Crime He drank by himself in a cheap hotel and once tried suicide. He turned to crime and served three penitentiary terms and four jail sentences in the past 15 years for fraud and fraudulent use of credit cards. The other inmates jeered him and gave him the nickname "Lumpy Willie."
After he was released from the penitentiary in June, 1968, Chapelski went to a plastic surgeon, Dr. Wilkie, who agreed to help him, even though Chapelski could not pay. The plastic surgeon began, working on Chapelski at St. Paul's Hospital on Nov. 18, ,1968. In a two-hour operation, Wilkie surgically removed hundreds of the lumps from Chapelski's face.
It was the first of five operations on Chapelski, a total of 16 hours of surgery. Police Wait Police who were holding warrants for Chapelski's arrest on six charges of fraud, waited until the plastic surgery was completed before arresting hiiro He appeared in British Columbia provincial court on the charges in July, 1969. Lawyer Marvin Storrow represented him without a fee and told the story of "the ugliest man in Canada" to the court. "He has self-confidence and self-respect for the first time and is prepared to attempt to live differently with his different appearance," Storrow summed up. "Society has been harsh to this man.
It may be doctors have given him the first break in life and he should get a chance." Judge Harvey Jessup agreed. He fined Chapelski $35 and one day in jail for each count of fraud. "I am lucky. Honest, I promise, I will never let you down. Thanks, Thanks." Chapelski told Judge Jessup.
He was released from prison a week later, Chapelski went to work, determined to keep his promise to these people who had given him a chance, "I'm tired of running from the police. I'm tired of being in prison. I am tired of being so ugly that I am hated by people who don't even know me," he told a newspaperwoman. "I'm ready to face the world now to be free and to get that job. I have hope now for the first time." He did janitorial work, "collected and sold pop bottles and drew welfare.
Debt paid he was aided by Mrs. Margaret Ricketts, 71, a widow on a pension who provided him with a place to live. He was trying to get a job as a night watchman, said Mrs. Ricketts. "He wanted to work at night, because of his face', you see," she said.
"He, wanted desperately to make amends." With Mrs. Ricketts' help, he paid off his fines, and made good his fraudulent purchases at department stores, out of his welfare check. When he died, the "ugliest man in Canada" had paid his debts..
