Mischievous Mainlander—Murray Lloyd

Mischievous Mainlander

Murray Lloyd

Murray considers himself a mainlander growing up on the South Island of New Zealand near Christchurch. His dad was one son of 15 children and his grandfather was fairly wealthy, so when he passed away, he gave each of his children a piece of land. Murray grew up with many aunts and uncles, cousins and memories in his 71 years of life.

Murray lived with his maternal grandparents at 6 months of age. His father was home for Christmas, holidays and celebrations and was rarely home, so his mother cared for his oldest and youngest brother and there was always extended family to help out with the livestock and farm. The boys were “rowdy” and were full of energy and mischief. Murray’s father was a positive influence on him as he learned to work with tools, build structures, and plumbing. His mother loved to bake, something Murray enjoys in his retirement now, but she was often busy with horticultural interests, something he enjoys in his retirement now. Murray and his brothers learned to cook and fend for themselves at times. The boys were notorious for their pranks but they were responsible for taking care of getting the mash for the chickens, feeding the dogs and doing chores at 7 in the morning. Putting objects in the exhaust of the cars got them into some trouble, but they still attended church and spent their summers at camp or at the beach with the cousins. The red-headed boys even played pranks on their sister. As a child, Murray was often teased and called “four-eyes”. Because of that, he has worn contacts since he was 15 years old. He enjoyed math, geography and history but wanted nothing to do with science. He played rugby for 20 years and was a competitive runner. In the past number of years, he ran in many road races with the Running Room but had to quit when he pulled his Achilles tendon playing squash. Murray also enjoyed skiing. Academics came quite easy to him and apparently, so did managerial positions. He acquired an accounting job as soon as he left school. At 22 years of age, he was deputy manager of a company and eventually ended up marrying a Canadian woman. When she became homesick, she and Murray left for Canada. The winter was quite a shock to him, but he found a job quickly as county manager and was in charge of the municipality and the school board. Murray has been back and forth to New Zealand, but he has acquired a group of friends in Canada that he golfs with, visits and enjoys time with. His red wine making, love of music and reading - up to 120 novels last year- take up his time. Murray’s advice to others is to use humour to lessen the stress. He has become a mentor to many, especially his son and son-in-law and dreams of going to Spain and Italy someday. He has accomplished most of his dreams including attending World Cup and he looks forward to time with his wife, their families, especially their grandchildren.