Obituary of Lloyd Carlile Shales
Lloyd Carlile Shales was born the 19th of January, 1932, and died the 3rd of January, 2022.
Lloyd was born in Toronto, the only son of Helen Carson (Shales) and Carl Shales. The family moved to Kingston during the war years where Lloyd became well known as the owner of “the hobby shop”, Lloyd Shales Hobby Supplies, for many years located on Division Street at the top of Queen Street.
Lloyd began building model airplanes as a boy. While still in his teens, he opened his first business in his father’s garage at 79 Arch Street in Kingston. The site no longer exists, but the area is part of the Queen’s University campus.
Gradually, the business grew and, eventually, moved to its Division Street location. Though still a small space, people were amazed at the quantity of stock and supporting supplies the tiny building held. These included plastic model car kits; ships (both plastic and wooden); tanks and other military models; many craft supplies, such as beads, jewellery findings, and artists’ supplies; model trains in a variety of gauges; and of course, wooden kits for flying model airplanes. Most of these items required paint and brushes and glue as well as a variety of hardware.
The popularity of SCUBA diving as a sport increased after the war so that by the 1960s it was a prominent pass-time. It became one of Lloyd’s major interests. In 1959, the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) was formed to teach safety to sport divers. The association is now known world-wide, but Lloyd was the 110th registered instructor. As a result of this passion, one corner of “the shop” was devoted to diving supplies and Lloyd taught courses regularly and refilled diving tanks from a compressor housed in the basement.
Besides these two consuming hobbies, Lloyd was an excellent photographer who often supplied news footage to CKWS TV.
For more than 40 years, Lloyd was not only the proprietor of the hobby shop, he was a skilled builder and instructor; Lloyd’s knowledge of historical aircraft and aeronautics in general was encyclopedic. Memorial contributions in Lloyd's memory may be made to Mission Aviation Fellowship of Canada. No service is planned at this time.
