It could be dubbed one of the premier Calgary garage sales.
On Friday morning, the belongings of former premier Ralph Klein and his wife Colleen went up for grabs in a garage/estate sale at the late couple’s long-time Lakeview residence.
“This is your chance to own a memento of the Klein’s and a little bit of Alberta history,” states a post on the Facebook page of Calgary Estate Clearing.
“Come join us, walk down memory lane and enjoy the items Ralph and Colleen collected over years of extraordinary lives and careers.”
Before the address of the sale was posted, Calgary Estate Clearing said 60 people had responded to the notice of its sale, which runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The company said the sale would be held in the residence’s back alley-accessed garage and back yard.
One of the items up for sale were a pair of silver presentation cups from the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics, priced at $250.
The estate sale comes four months after the death of Colleen Klein, who was the ex-premier’s wife for 41 years until he died in 2013.
Klein was the province’s Progressive Conservative premier from 1992 to 2006 and was re-elected three times.
The couple were known for their modest tastes, exemplified by the unassuming bungalow in Calgary’s Lakeview neighbourhood they called home for many years. “My mom didn’t want any pomp and pageantry. She didn’t want anything like that – no service,” their daughter Teresa Klein said earlier this year.
The couple purchased the home on Lacombe Way S.W. – their second residence – in 1980 when Ralph Klein was a TV reporter and Colleen worked as a grocery store cashier.
In April, 2002, environmental activist group Greenpeace installed solar panels on the home’s roof as a climate change protest without the Kleins’ consent, with current federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault being part of the caper.
-more to come
X: @BillKaufmannjrn