Grandparents Auction Off Late Son's Car To Raise Their Grandchildren But Receive Donations Instead

Jul 21, 2022 by apost team

Death is an abstract concept most of us can barely grasp. It is an even harder idea to explain to children. Unfortunately, 3-year-old Liam and 6-year-old Arielle experienced the death of both parents, Brent and Nicole Keryluke. The Alberta community mourned the passing of the Kerylukes but came together to support the orphaned children.

Brent and Nicole were loving parents who deeply cared for their kids. Due to a motorcycle accident, they left their children behind. They collided with a truck and died on May 5, 2018.

Before he passed, Brent was working on his old 1973 Pontiac Parisienne that he was planning to give to his son when he was able to drive. The kids would typically help their dad in the garage while he worked.

Not only was the car meaningful to the parents, it also meant a lot to Liam and Arielle. The family didn't want to sell the car, due to sentimental value, however, they needed the money.

The grandparents never imagined they would have to take care of their grandkids. It is a parent's worst nightmare to see their children go before them. Besides the immense grief, Ben and Marilyn went through, they had to take care of two young children. The expenses that come with caring for people so young is very expensive, let alone children that require great medical attention. 

The eldest child, Arielle, was diagnosed with brain cancer several years before her parents' death. Liam needs speech therapy and both children have hearing impairments.

Their grandparents, Ben and Marilyn Keryluke, decided to auction off the car at Electric Garage Auctions in order to raise money for the children. 

During the auction, the audience was informed about the family's tragic situation. To the Keryluke's surprise, people began bidding on the car and giving it back to the family.

Everyone there was so excited to help the family, the energy there was palpable. The auction lasted approximately ten minutes. Rod McWilliams from Red Deer Motors won first, then Danny Fayad from Edmonton won, and finally, Bob Bevins from Bulldog Metals won the final round. 

A total of $100,000 was raised for the family on September 8th. In addition to the auction money, over $80,000 was donated to the family via their GoFundMe page. In an interview with Red Deer Advocate Ben shared that the car meant more to the family than they could explain. 

“When their father bought this car, it basically looked like it does now, but he rebuilt the motor and transmission. He did a lot of work on it. Arielle and Liam spent a lot of time in the garage with their father, spent a lot of time in the backseat … reading books and playing while he was working on the car,” he said.

The owner of the auction, Lyndsay Payne, co-owner of EG Auctions, shared she had never seen anything as touching in her whole career. 

“It was incredible. People were cheering, I was crying. Our auctioneer Rod had a hard time getting through it because he was crying. He was emotional," she expressed.

“It was unreal. I’ve never been a part of anything like that before in my life,” Payne said.

The family shared that one day their grandchildren will drive the classic car.  It’s being looked after and it’s being saved for Arielle and Liam to drive some day,” they shared. 

apost.com

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