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Prospect Matt Rempe’s late-blooming push: ‘He’s on this exponential curve’

Sep 9, 2020

By Scott Cruickshank Sep 8, 2020 This is a legacy with breadth. Ron Rempe, by all accounts, was that type of person. His contributions varied in scope. From the grandest scale — Ron’s engineering company designed the Saddledome’s iconic roof — to those on the smaller side. For instance, the model-train course running through the family home, a layout that included tracks set into the ceiling. His interests spanned the gamut. Ron collected western shirts, guitars, beer steins, hotel bells, grandfather clocks, action figures, drums, antiques. “Super, super creative. Larger than life,” said his daughter Steph. “This 6-foot-6 guy, you’d see him in the stands (for Calgary Flames games) in pink cowboy boots, long trench coat, funky glasses. He played drums in a band growing up. He taught all of us three instruments. Loved art. Loved music. Loved painting. Spoke four languages. “An all-round incredible person. He was such a presence, always talking to us about finding things we were passionate about. None of us are into video games. It’s such an artistic, creative family. “Every Sunday morning, I can still remember, we’d wake up and he’d be down in the kitchen with some different CD on — whether it would be Mexican, country, bluegrass, jazz, rock and roll. Always some different genre.” For vacations, the Rempes would pile into the family roadster and hit the highway, driving to Toronto, to nearly every state south of the border. Time was never wasted. “We’d be listening to music and sightseeing, trying different foods and going on adventures,” said Steph. “We’d bring our guitars and recorders and we would play everywhere we went....