Kevin Capelle; news vendor charmed buyers

Newspaper vendor Kevin J. Capelle, known as ''Stretch" or ''Shorty," was distinguished by his lack of height -- and his outsize personality.

For 10 years, Mr. Capelle, of Boston, sold newspapers outside a number of the city's busiest subway stations on weekdays. Sundays would find him in front of the Dunkin' Donuts on North Beacon Street in Brighton, charming thousands of regular customers with a big smile and a twinkle in his blue eyes.

''You could make a movie about this kid," said a friend, Paul Harold of Jamaica Plain. ''He was funny. Everybody knew him."

Mr. Capelle, 37, a dwarf who braved all sorts of weather to sell his newspapers -- for the last three years in front of the Sullivan Square MBTA station -- was found dead in his bed on Thursday. His sister, Norma of Jamaica Plain, said she did not know the cause of death, pending findings of the medical examiner.

Among those who admired him was Laura Ofilos of Jamaica Plain, a waitress at the Triple D's restaurant, who first met Mr. Capelle when she bought newspapers from him in Haymarket Square. When Mr. Capelle told her he couldn't afford the $15 it would cost to have his trousers shortened, Ofilos altered them herself.

''Kevin wouldn't take a dime from anyone," she said.

Mr. Capelle also made friends with many workers on the Big Dig who made a point of buying their daily papers from him just to exchange pleasantries. When he used to sell papers outside North Station, commuters, hurrying on their way, often stopped to do the same.

Harold said Mr. Capelle never minded being called ''Stretch" or ''Shorty," but he bristled at the word ''midget." At 4-foot-3-inches, Mr. Capelle never complained about the cards life dealt him, Harold said.

''Kevin never had any problem with being a dwarf," his sister said. ''He was really adorable, a very easy-going guy. People deal with problems in different ways. With Kevin it was, 'Oh, well, tomorrow is another day.' There was no one who met Kevin who didn't like him."

His sister didn't know who first bestowed the nickname ''Stretch" on Mr. Capelle, but it was familiar enough to be used as part of his name in his death notice.

Mr. Capelle was born in Boston, one of seven children of Roy and Gloria (Freany). After graduating from Milton High School at 18, his sister said, he held a variety of jobs.

Jimmy Taylor, of Lynn, an independent newspaper distributor and friend, said Mr. Capelle told him of being a cabana worker in Florida, a gas station attendant, and a roofer before becoming a newspaper vendor.

''I can count on one hand the number of days in 10 years that Kevin missed work," Taylor said yesterday.

He recalled how Mr. Capelle would get up at 2 a.m. to meet him at the Boston Herald around 3:30 to load a truck with the morning newspapers they would deliver to the various newsstands before Mr. Capelle arrived at his own.

''Stretch was a fantastic man," Taylor said. ''He was smart and very dedicated. After we delivered the Heralds to the stands, he would get to his own stand around 5:30 a.m. and stay there until about 9 a.m. Then, he would help me on the truck until noon, and then we'd be done for the day and I'd drop him off at his rooming house.

''Then he would hang out with Paul [Harold], and they'd go to the Triple D's."

''We all looked forward to seeing Kevin," said Joe Devlin, Triple D's manager. ''He was a fun little guy."

Mr. Capelle, who worked every day but Saturday, was often a guest at Taylor's Lynn home and enjoyed swimming in the pool with Taylor's children.

''Stretch didn't look at being small as a handicap," Taylor said. ''It was just he was born with it and rolled with the punches."

Besides his sister, Mr. Capelle leaves two other sisters, Deborah Gregory of Massachusetts and Laurie Kelly of Florida; and three brothers, Roy Jr. of Nevada, Francis of Hawaii, and Chris of Boston.

Services will be held at 10 a.m. today at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Jamaica Plain. Burial will be private.

In accordance with the family's wishes, the funeral director said, Mr. Capelle will be buried wearing a Boston Globe T-shirt.