Roger Haley writes of his mother, Katherine Haley’s, passion for collecting Borein…

Mother’s interest in Edward Borein started at a young age with visits to the El Paseo in Santa Barbara for lunch with her mother.  Next door was the studio where Ed would be working and visiting with friends. Many times mother spent on a stool listening to Ed and her mother converse about his art. Both my mother and grandmother, Edith Hoffman were great horse women. Mother so loved the action that Ed was able to capture in his art.

Mother started collecting Borein etchings in 1959 when Harold Davidson was the agent to sell Mrs. Borein’s private collection. This is all it took for her to get the BUG. From then on, she went on the hunt to find more. Harold helped wherever he could to help with her new passion. As time went on, mother had accumulated many. She finally built a gallery at her home, which was known all over the world as Kay’s Borein Gallery. She spent numerous hours sitting out in the gallery studying each piece and remembering where she acquired it. I believe that mother’s passion was infectious. She loved having guests come and spend time with her and seeing the Boreins but I believe that mother’s greatest love was the people that she met that also enjoyed her passion. Mother developed friends from around the globe from every walk of life.

I believe that her gift to the Western Art world was that she wanted people to be able to see and love the work of Borein, which is why she was instrumental in organizing Borein shows around the world. I remember when the California Vaquero was exhibited so beautifully in the showcase at the entrance of the Cow Palace in San Francisco.  Everyone that entered the coliseum couldn't do so without viewing the wonderful exhibit and the highlight was the fact that the California Vaquero was printed on the cover of the program.

Since my mother’s death in Dec. 1999, the California Vaquero has been hanging in the living room at the ranch. My wife Christina passed away on November 2, 2010. Her wish was to set up an educational fund for our grandchildren, and I promised I would. I want to put the money from the sale to help in this wish. I also believe that it is time that the California Vaquero have the chance to be in the public again carrying on the Legacy that my mother started over a half century ago. I hope you will all love it as much as we have.

– Roger Haley, 2011