John Barker has advised of the passing of Phil Psaila who John advised was probably in his late 60s. Phillip passed way at 3 PM Monday 9^th May 2022 from pancreatic cancer. You may recall Phil from OTC Engineering and Training. He will be sadly missed by wife, Kim, and his children, Vivian and Thomas.

Kim messaged Neale Hoggan on Monday 16 May that Phil wanted cremation only, no service. If there is to be a celebration of Phil’s life Kim will let Neale know so that he can share with Phil’s friends and colleagues from his OTC days, etc.

I well remember Phil from my days at Paddington Terminal. Phil was a happy go lucky friendly person who was well liked and respected by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.

If you have any memories of Phil that you would like to share with his friends and family via the OTVA web site or just with others on this email distribution list please email them to me indicating your preference and I will share them around.

May He Rest In Peace

John Bennett has passed on the sad news of the passing of John Toland.

Mark Toland called JB to advise that John had passed away last Sunday, 12 December aged 96 after complications with eating.

A Service won’t be held until February. Mark will advise of the date, time and place once those details are known.

The below photo of John was found in the Transit library and was taken at the Bounty Day Picnic in 1983

According to Barbara’s daughter, Elizabeth (Libby)  Barbara been suffering from memory loss for the past 2 years and had put herself into Ferndale Gardens Aged Care facility in Mortdale in the southern suburbs of Sydney to get help and reduce the burden on her family and the staff of the IRT Retirement Village in Peakhurst to which she moved after Henry’s passing 6 years ago in 2015.

Libby said that Barbara started to feel unwell on Sunday 14^th November and developed a headache. Barbara had a stroke on the Wednesday and passed away  on the following Saturday (20.11.21).

From Death Notice in Sydney Morning Herald (dated 27 November 2021)

Barbara Cranfield (16.02.1933 0 20.11.2021)

Beloved wife of Henry (dec.), loving father of Elizabeth and Robert, mother-in-law of Therese, Dear Grandma of Michael and sister to Robert and Margaret.

Always in our Hearts

Family and friends of Barbara are invited to attend her funeral service to be held at Mary Mother of Mercy Chapel, Rookwood Catholic Cemetery, Barnet Ave, Rookwood on Tuesday November 30, 2021 commencing at 11.00am.

No flowers by request.

John Morrison has provided the sad news of the passing of Trevor Pike.

Noticed Trevor’s name in today’s obits. He apparently passed away on 26^th September, no other info was listed.

I had a Christmas card from him in 2019 which he said in part,

“have been in and out of hospital most of 2019 and will be glad to see the end of 2019. I’ve been undergoing chemo and radiation therapy, after having a whipples operation in Canberra for pancreatic cancer.  I’ve lost the pancreas, spleen, gall bladder and other bits and pieces as well as 15kg in weight. Will find out the results early next year”

He then said would be in touch when/if he got to Sydney – unfortunately he never contacted me. It sounds like his last couple of years would have not been pleasant.

John  recalls that Trevor was a member of the Vets, at least at one stage. John remembers going to a vets outing at the Mandarin Club in Goulburn Street with him.

That would have been at least 20 years ago as that was about when Keith McCredden encouraged Col Kelly and me to join the Vets.

If you have any Tributes and/or memories of Trevor that you would like to share with other Vets and for upload to the OTVA web site please email them to me.

May He Rest In Peace

Among his many achievements Phil’s LinkedIn profile (provided by Greg Sachs) states that he is a Distinguished Life Member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Australia.

Phillip is regularly retained by business brokers to write Information Memoranda promoting the sale of small and medium enterprises. Engaged by two national broker groups, he has documented over 2,000 businesses for sale, with market values up to $4,000,000.

The industries covered are extremely diverse, extending from IT Applications, to manufacturing, transport, business services, child care and all aspects of hospitality.

Phillip is flexible in the nature, size and duration of projects. Phillip creates attractive fact-focussed concise business documents, plans and reports, which integrate business strategy with information technology, engineering, law and accountancy as required.

His background is in Management, Engineering & IT roles, for 28 years, in the International Telecommunications Industry. Phillip also has a strong background in the not-for-profit sector and labour law.

Wallace Donald has also provided the below Tribute to Phil:

In the mid 1970’s I became a Member of the NSW Committee of the APEA. The aim was to further the Industrial strength of the Commonwealth Govt employees versus the control of the NSW Branch of the APEA exerted by Committee Members from the NSW Electricity Commission. After about 3 years I found that I needed to step aside for personal reasons. I searched high and low in OTC for a suitable replacement and eventually I passed on my Committee Membership to Phillip. He entered the fray as  a somewhat novice politician, but obviously went from strength to strength over time. He had found his best fit slot in life! Both Philip and I had wins by joining the APEA Committee.

Wallace Donald provided the following recollection of Ian:

Ian Bailey did work for me and was quite smart. He worked on the Installation of Satellite Earth Station Equipment with me at Moree , etc. Always laconic, quiet, but very competent. He always considered issues carefully and would advocate his viewpoint convincingly.  As others have remarked he did enjoy travel; especially to the Philippines. I visited him in his home some years later, about 1990, and met his new wife. At that time he was living in a terrace in Paddington alongside former Sydney Mayor, Frank Sartor.

Greg Sachs has provided the below Death Notice:

Jim Jensen has added the following:

Ian must have communicated his fondness for OTC to his family for this to be subsequently reported in ton his passing!

Robert Hall (VIC) has passed on the sad news of the passing of Vance Maxwell Findlay  on 15.8.2021 age 78 at the ESTIA aged care THURGOONA NSW

A memorial service for Vance can be seen by Livestream on Friday 27^th August at 1.55pm  on   https://bit.ly/3CZeSGJ

The funeral service will take place at:

Le Pine/White Lady Burwood

339 Warrigal Road,  BURWOOD  Vic.

Vance was born on 3.1.1943 and started working for oTC(A) on 27 February 1961.

Work History:

1961 – Traffic Assistant, MOR

1963 – Accounts Clerk

1982 – Staff Officer

1988 – accepted Redundancy.

Vance lived Burwood until moving to Wodonga about 2016 and then into the ESTIA aged care.

It is with great sadness that I advise you of the passing of Keith McCredden who many of you would have known from his long association with OTC and the OTVA.

Bob Dean has passed on the sad news that Keith lost his battle with cancer this morning. Keith had been suffering ill health from cancer for about 5 years and had been in palliative care in hospital for the past few weeks. Gai and his family (sons: Ian, Jamie & Andrew) were able to spend the past 2 days with him and were at his side at the time of his passing.

Many of you will remember Keith from his days in the Message Relay Switching Centre (MRSC) as well as when he was appointed to several management roles across Head Office, Broadway & Paddington.

Keith always had a smile on his face and a funny chuckle as a laugh that set the platform for a warm friendly relationship which he would extend to all with whom he met.

Keith also came out of retirement in 1992 to support Mike Hofman and Bill Millar in the Optus Network Operations Centre for about 5 years.

Keith was a good friend and colleague to many of us who had the pleasure of knowing and working with him over the years..

Keith was a real gentlemen and he will be missed by his family and his many friends and associates.

May He Rest In Peace.

If you would like to send Gai and Keith family members a Tribute to Keith please email it to president@otva.com and I will share it with Gai. Please advise if you ALSO give permission for me to upload your Tribute to the OTVA webs site for others to see and remember Keith.

Peter Tuckwell has advised:

I received an email from my Antarctic crowd that VIN GIBSON (ex-SOR) passed away on Thursday 10^th June.

He was 98 or 99 years old and a true gentleman. He had a great outlook on life.

I do not have a direct contact with his daughter but hope to get details.

Vin wintered at CASEY station as a Radio Operator 3 times: 1973, 1976 and 1980.

I visited him last in 2019 but spoke several times on the phone in recent months.

 Regards,

Peter Tuckwell

Vin was a regular contributor to OTVA Newsletters. His contributions can be found in the following newsletters:

Nov 1990 pp 174-177

Nov 1991 pp 232-235

April 1992 pp 299-302

Nov 1992 pp 314-316

Nov 1993 pp 400-402

May 1994 pp 463-465

May 1996 pp 648-651

Richard Faddy has passed on the sad news that Paul Black passed away on Monday 7 June 2021.

Paul’s sister, Muriel, had contacted Dave Stimson who has advised Paul’s friends and colleagues from his days in OTC.

Apparently Paul went downhill rapidly over the last month – heavily drugged and could not eat. So it is a relief really for his family who have had to watch a decline in cognitive reason and awareness for just 18 months. Very sad.

May He Rest In Peace.