diff --git a/dbLoadTemplate b/dbLoadTemplate
index 5d6d005..defeb43 100755
--- a/dbLoadTemplate
+++ b/dbLoadTemplate
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ sub parseTemplate {
     } else {
         while (parseRecord) {};
     }
+    return 1;
 }
 
 sub parseSubst {
@@ -113,6 +114,7 @@ sub parseSubst {
     if ($_ eq "{") {
         # old style substitution
         do {
+            local %subst;
             while (1) {
                 my $macro;
                 do {
@@ -122,7 +124,7 @@ sub parseSubst {
                 expect "=", "$STRING|$SUBST value for $macro";
                 $subst{$macro} = $_;
             }
-            parseTemplate $filename;
+            eval {parseTemplate $filename} or die "$@called from $ARGV line $.\n";
             expect "{|} '{' or '}'";
         } while $_ eq "{";
     } else {
@@ -147,7 +149,7 @@ sub parseSubst {
                 $subst{$macro} = $_;
             }
             expect "}";
-            parseTemplate $filename;
+            eval {parseTemplate $filename} or die "$@called from $ARGV line $.\n";
         };
     }
     return 1;