Harry in Chicago!

There's a moment of understanding as Scott Clarke speaks with a class of photography students at Lambton College. The Sarnia police sergeant is in uniform, but he's talking about his photography work. His subject — Harry Kewley, known to many as “Happy Harry.” The friendship begins Their lives have been entwined since six years ago when Scott arrested a man who was defrauding Harry and his father, Bill. In the spring of 2007, Harry's father had suffered a heart attack and a con artist had been living with the pair for two years, siphoning their money away. He took upwards of $20,000 under the pretense of using the cash for hepatitis C medication, says River City Vineyard pastor George Esser, who eventually became Harry's power of attorney when Scott approached the church about the squalor he found at Harry and Bill's apartment Scott had gone to the apartment to arrest the conman, learning everything from Harry at a chance meeting. Working with the pastor, Community Living Sarnia Lambton and others, Scott and the group eventually found a new apartment for Harry and his father. But the conman returned. More than a year later, Scott discovered he was back with Bill and Harry, defrauding them again. They'd kept it quiet. “Bill didn't like me getting involved,” Scott says. “Bill didn't trust me for a long time.” The man was in custody when Harry's father died in February, 2009, at age 86. Not long after Bill's death, Scott learned Harry was planning to go to Chicago by himself. He'd gone before with his father, with whom Harry had an incredibly strong bond, Scott says. Scott offered to go with him. “I just didn't want him to go alone,” he says. “He can't go alone.” They've been there three times together since 2010, visiting churches and museums mostly, and Scott has thousands of photographs to show for it. Tyler Kula Sarnia Observer ( a portion of the story published in local paper)