Bill’s wife, Sue, advised that Bill passed away Sunday 7 June 2020.

Bill had been treated for cancer for the past 2 years and despite some success with some experimental drugs the cancer spread in recent months and he was in a lot of pain in his final weeks according to Sue.

Naturally Sue’s world has been shattered by Bill’s passing but at the time of his death he was surrounded by Sue, Bill’s siblings and his boys (David, Scott and Timothy – Adrian is in Hong Kong and unable to travel).

Sue advised that Bill’s funeral service would probably be later this week or early next week She will advise more after she and the family have met with the funeral directors.

May He Rest In Peace

Peter Hitchiner and Bob Murray have passed on the sad news of Peter Warrilow’s passing on Tuesday. They received the advice from Peter Warrilow’s family via PK Wong.

The funeral service for Peter is being tentatively arranged for Tuesday 26 May 2020 at 1pm at Pymble Catholic Church.

Because of the Coronavirus, only 20 people are allowed to attend the service in person so the church service will be by invitation only.

To accommodate those who cannot attend but would like to view the funeral service it will be live streamed so that people can watch it on a computer or smart mobile phone. The details are still being organised and Peter’s son, Michael, will advise PK of the login details once they are confirmed. PK shall then forward the details on to those who would like to join the service online.

As opposed to sending flowers the family would prefer a donation to a charity to be nominated by the family in coming days.

A picture of Peter from the Oct 1973 Transit:

In 1962 the Credit upon completed its first year of operation with assets of $73,000 and a membership of 311.

Peter Warillow became Chairman of the OTC Credit Union Board in 1972. By 1987 the membership had grown to 2587 with assets of about $7 million.

Under Peter’s stewardship the Credit Union evolved from using a rather antiquated ledger machine to a fully computerized online system but the spirit of ‘mutual benefit to members’ remained throughout its existence.

Michael Grosbard, son of John Grosbard whose last posting prior to his retirement was the Paddington ITMC, has reported that John passed away peacefully at the age of 98 on Tuesday 7^th April at Killara Gardens Aged Care Facility.

John was very much loved by his wife, Hope, who is still going strong at 97 as well as Michael and his wife, Jools, and their daughters, Jessica and Emma, and their extended family.

He always spoke highly of his work colleagues and wonderful times working at OTC in Paddington. Once he retired Michael and John started a technology related business in which Michael and John were closely involved for many years.

His family will miss him dearly.

May He Rest In Peace

Allan McPherson (ex OTC payroll) has advised that a Herbert Henry (Bert) Cladingboel passed away 4/4/20 aged 97 years.

97 is a good innings in anyone’s book. He must have seen huge technological changes and social change in that time. I wonder what a 20 year old Bert would have thought of Tinder and G-string bikinis. He might have had a heart attack and then he would not have reached the age of 97.

May He Rest In Peace.

Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

Wallace Donald has advised of the passing of Margaret Rath on 28 March aged 80 years

Margaret was the wife of John Rath, Planning Branch Economist at OTC, who worked with Bob Long, Cyril Vahtrick, Ron Knightly, W G Gosewinckel and Wallace, etc, and was somewhat famous in that role).

John lost his wife Margaret on 28th March, passing away at home and leaving John, 4 children, and eight grandchildren.

Margaret’s funeral service will be held at Olsen’s Chapel, Sutherland on Tuesday 7th at 10 am with a burial at Woronora cemetery later. The service and burial are to be PRIVATE due to limits on numbers attending.

However the Chapel service will be live streamed online but access to the live stream will have to be approved by the family through Olsen’s. The family must OK viewing of the live streaming of the funeral service

If you would like access to the live stream please contact Olsen’s on Monday morning (6 April 2020). Olsen’s: phone (02) 9545-3477.

John and Margaret once lived in Engadine NSW, but of course that was many years ago, from the mid-1960s till 1990 at least.

Wallace worked with John during the 1960s while Planning satellites and Cable Systems and the very fast expansion of services those facilities enabled.

John’s Economic Unit comprising himself alone but expanded from the mid-1960s to include several staff amongst whom were: Joe Kristof; Stephen van Eyk. Stephen was nurtured by John and after leaving OTC Stephen set up a Funds Research House in 1993. Stephen was “voted by the industry as one of the most influential people in financial services at that time”. Obviously John’s skills and knowledge rubbed off on him.

Unfortunately Les passed away just after 6:00am on Saturday 4 January 2020 losing his fight against cancer.

His daughter, Cathy, has advised that there will be a gathering of Les’ friends at the “Bondi Icebergs” club in Nots Avenue, Bondi, on Thursday 16^th January at 11:15am.

Details to be published in the Daily Telegraph on Friday 10^th January 2020.

May He Rest In Peace

Cathy Ayers, Les’ daughter, advised his long-term friend and colleague from his OTC years, John Smith, in mid-December 2019 that due to his worsening medical condition Les had been placed in Edina Age Care Hospital, Waverley. Les had been undergoing extensive chemo and radiation treatment for several months but unfortunately he had not responded positively to the treatment and was not expected to recover.

Les has been an active member of the OTC Vets for many years and has in recent years provided many stories for inclusion in the OTVA Newsletter which had added to the reading enjoyment of many of its members.

Dave Izatt has passed on the sad news of the death of a good friend and colleague, Peter Allan, who passed away on 6 December after losing his battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife Lily, five children and grandchildren.

The funeral was held on Monday 16 December 2019.

Dave worked with Peter between 1990 – 1996 in OTC International both in Sydney and Indochina.

May he rest in peace.

Keith McCredden has been told that Keith Oxley passed away in the past few days.

No funeral service details are known at this time but Keith believes that the funeral service will be held today (Tuesday 3 December 2019) at an as yet undisclosed location.

I tried unsuccessfully to contact Keith’s family on the home phone to confirm the details of his passing and the funeral arrangements.

I will advise further if I hear. In the meantime keep your eye on the news papers.

From OTC Transit October 1984

ST02 Keith Oxley recently retired after 43 years in the telecommunications industry.
In a ceremony held at Paddington terminal, speakers Randy Payne, Henry Cranfield and Alec Griffiths traced Keith’s long involvement in the industry, from the early years as messenger boy with Cable and Wireless, through 16 years of overseas postings in Fiji, Fanning Island and Cocos Island, to Paddington in 1963.
Keith met his NZ-born wife, Loma, during the first of three postings to Suva, Fiji, and they married in 1949. Loma is no stranger to the world of international telecommunications as she was a wartime operator with Cable and Wireless in Suva.
Keith and Loma have a son, Robert, living in Castle Hill NSW and a daughter, Irene, living in Caloundra on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. They plan to spend some of their time commuting between the two areas – that is when they’re not busy growing orchids at their house in Turramurra, Sydney. Keith is not the slightest bit fazed by the thought of retirement.
“I’ve got a good cook to look after me,” he laughed.

Born 30th October 1918

Grace Anne Dale commenced  work with OTC (A) at Lonsdale Street Melbourne in the Phonograms/Printergrams department from 1971 to 1982 when she retired at age 64.

Grace was very determined to stay at her home with help from her daughters and carers. She had been in and out of hospital for last few months.

It was only the days prior to her passing that she was admitted back into hospital with heart failure and passed away peacefully on 18^th October 2019.

Funeral Service 

Where:         Le Pine,  Eltham on 7^th November 2019.

Attendees:   Present were about 65 Family/Relatives/Friends/OTVA Colleagues including:

Gary & Debbie Kelly,

Eddie Hope,

Robert & Judith Hall and

Grace’s Daughter, Jill, & son-in-law,  John Caulfield

Sincere sympathy is extended to Jill & John and their extended Families on the Celebration of a Grand Lady

May She Rest In Peace