Townsman, 1992-01, Page 11for a time so that, among other things,
Lloyd Jr. could be closer to where he
was training. "If I fall, I fall, and if I
win, I win," he says. "They don't take
advantage of me when I win and they
don't disown me when I lose." He still
keeps his motorcycle (a monstrous
touring Honda loaded with chrome) in
his parents' garage and comes home to
Seaforth as often as he can, which is
quite often.
He and Isabelle were in Seaforth at
Christmas and shared the spotlight
with the local figure skating club at
the Seaforth arena. Tickets were sold
out before they went on sale. There
were a lot of "oohs" and "ahhs". The
Eislers are just regular working folk.
Lloyd Sr. now drives a truck and Bev
works at a local nursing home. They
made it to the Calgary Olympics to
see their son because Labatt's picked
up the tab for parents of our Olympic
athletes at that event, but they won't
be going to Albertville. They would
be in the poor house if they tried to go
everywhere with their son. Their liv-
ing room is full of knick-knacks Her-
bie has brought home from his travels
throughout the world and Bev says
she has a room full of video tapes of
his performances. The family is quite
close. Lloyd also has two sisters, one
older and one younger, and a cat still
living at home in Seaforth.
The fan club is a relatively recent
trapping of success. It was started by a
lady in Windsor who enjoys the sport
and does similar promotions for other
skaters. Lloyd and Isabelle donate all
proceeds after expenses to the Child-
ren's Wish Foundation, a non-profit
organization that grants terminally ill
children their favourite wish.
"There are not too many people my
age who can say they've been to as
many places as I have other than ath-
letes or extremely rich people who do
nothing but travel," says Lloyd. A
cursory list of the places he has skated
includes Japan, Australia, Russia,
Czechoslovakia, Germany, China,
France, Denmark, England, Hungary
and Yugoslavia.
"I love going to different places just
to see the culture — how it is different
from where I live. How it would be to
survive in such places? I was in Rus-
sia in 1981 when the Polish crisis was
on. It was very unique to see. I have
been to Korea which is on the verge
of being a Third World country, see-
ing how people live there. I travelled
extensively in the Orient. With the
number of people, I just can't imagine
how they all survive and how they all
live there. It has been very reward-
ing."
As a native son of Huron County
now living and working in Quebec
with a partner he originally couldn't
even converse with, he has a unique
perspective and finds his own country
as interesting as any. Is his and
Isabelle's international success story a
mini morality tale for these troubled
times?
"It should be," he says. "I just find it
very, very foolish. My friends at home
talk about how bad it is in Montreal
and the people I skate with here talk
about how bad it is in Ontario and I
get to see both sides of it. And no one
is right. I guess they both have legiti-
mate beefs but it's the people who
don't get the opportunity to go some-
where and see what it is really like, to
be there, who are the people who have
all the arguments and criticism. I also
think the politicians are running the
way it is and I find that very, very dis-
Come Join the Fun
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Feb. 7 - 16, 1992
1992 Theme:
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International Teams Compete
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Box 610, Grand Bend, Ontario NOM 1TO
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TOWNSMAN/JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1992 9