It is with great sadness that I relay the advice received from Ron Lukin that Geoff has passed away.

Ron received a phone call this morning from Colleen Oldman with the sad news that Geoff had a severe stroke some two weeks ago and passed away in the morning of  27th Sept.

His son and both daughters are currently supporting Colleen and Greg who has recently retired from IT is looking after the farm.

A memorial service is planned at their farm in Denman NSW at 11am on Wed 5 Oct.

Would appreciate it if you could pass this email onto Vet members and his Engineering Branch work mates.

May He Rest In Peace

If you have any Tributes that you would like to share with other members of the OTVA as well as Colleen and Geoff’s family please email them to me and I will pass them on. Also please indicate whether you agree for your Tribute to be shared with other members of the OTVA and Geoff’s family via the OTVA website.

Paul Mulcahy advised that Julie Yee has passed on the very sad news of the recent loss of both of her brothers, Robert and Tom Lee, within a few weeks of each other. Both Robert and Tom worked for OTC.

Robert passed away on 26-8-22 aged 75. Robert was  an Engineer. He had been in a nursing home for a few years as he suffered from Dementia.

Tom passed away on 12-9-22 aged 80. Tom had been suffering from Diabetes for many years. He worked in SOR for over 30 years and recently had been living in Tweed Heads.

May they Rest In Peace

Many thanks to Jim Simpson who passed this one for the enjoyment of other members who may be interested:

This brought back some memories for me since I visited Goonhilly Downs SES complex in Cornwall, UK around 2000 when I was based in London (1998-2001) & maybe of interest to other OTVA Vets.

Originally British Telecom, now privately owned.  An impressive complex still as active as ever in association with NASA & other space exploration activities where one can Take a break from SLS and tour the nerve center for Artemis, ESA, JAXA and maybe Starship?! – YouTube

Phil Tresidder has passed on the sad news that his mother, Sylvia Tresidder (nee Bardsley), has passed away with family by her side after losing her battle with cancer. She was 80.

Phil says that the below photo of Sylvia was taken in the 1970s

whereas the below photo was taken more recently

Sylvia joined OTC in around 1969 as a Mainframe/Cobol Computer Programmer. She worked at OTC for 9 years until leaving in 1978 to have her first baby.

Phil recalls being told that Sylvia was OTC’s first professional female employee and rumour has it that this created a bit of a stir with some of the blokes.

Sylvia is survived by her husband James (Jim) Tresidder (aged 90) who is also an PMG/OTC veteran of 25+ years’ service leaving in 1992. Jim’s final role at OTC was in Treasury working as the International Funds Manager.

Family and friends are invited to attend a service in celebration of the life of Sylvia which will be held on 18th August, 2022. For funeral details please contact Phil Tresidder on 0404 495 173.

May she rest in peace

Glenn McGrath has passed on the sad news that Keith Gurney has passed away in the early morning of Thursday 11 August 2022 at Taree Hospital.

Keith started work in OTC in 1972 as an International Telecommunications Officer and worked in various roles on rotation from 1980 to 1985 as Senior ITO Traffic & Senior ITO Telex as well as Customer Service Officer and Area Controller. In the late 1980s he was appointed to the position of Manager Customer Support & Development in Network Innovations associated with the Joint Venture between OTC and British Telecom. In the early 1990s Keith held the positions of National Customer Support Manager (OTC Electronic Trading) and Manager Customer Service – Telstra Enhanced Services before finishing up in 1996 as National Manager Customer Service – Telstra Multimedia.

The below photo of Keith was supplied by Glenn and was taken in 1976 at Paddington Exchange International Telex / Data Centre.

Keith will be fondly remembered by all who knew him.

Keith’s wife Michelle confirmed as above and the funeral arrangements as detailed:

Funeral Service to be held at grave site

2pm 17 August 2022

Manning Great Lakes Memorial Gardens

183 Pampoolah Road

Taree NSW 2430

Paul Weirick , Kevin O’Brien and John McDermott have passed on the sad news of Peter’s passing on Friday morning (5 August) at Greenwich Hospital in the company of eight of his family

Peter had been suffering from motor neurone disease for the last 2 years.

Peter cycled every week with a group of “old” OTC friends, who will miss his ever-cheery smile.

Our thoughts are with Ailsa, Kelly, Brett, & Alexander at this difficult time.

May He Rest In Peace

Paul Weirick has passed on advice from Peter Dee’s wife, Ailsa, that there will be a gathering to celebrate Peter’s life at the Manly Golf Club in Sydney.

WHEN:                  12.30pm – 4.30pm Fri 9 September 2022

WHERE:                Manly Golf Club, 38-40 Balgowlah Rd, Balgowlah 2093

Anybody wishing to come long and join with family and friends to celebrate Peter’s life would be most welcome.

However the club has asked to be advised of numbers, so if anybody would like to come, could they please advise me via email or text ASAP but no later than say Wednesday 24^th August.

I will pass the details on to Paul who will consolidate a list for Ailsa

Chris Harley advised of the passing of Ernest Bywater

Ernie Bywater worked with Chris at OTC (A) in the Records Section during the late-1970s into early 1980s

Born 7th November 1954, third child to Ernest & Evelyn Annie Bywater. Brother to Gary and Catherine. Passed peacefully in his sleep after a short illness at the Wagga Wagga Base Hospital on Saturday 16th July 2022, leaving behind his son Allyn.

A service of Thanksgiving will be held in the Elouera Room Chapel, 2 Station Place Wagga Wagga on Saturday 30th July 2022 commencing at 11:00am.

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend.

May He Rest In Peace

Keith Gray has advised that Don’s wife, Kathryn, has passed on the sad news that that Don has passed away. Other friends have advised that Don had a sudden and fatal heart attack.

Don was a trainee technician from 1962 to 1964  at the Paddington Training School run by Jon Cresswick. Keith was in the same group as Don.

Keith is not sure where Don worked in OTC after he completed his Field Training so he would be interested to hear from other Vets where he may have worked.

During the last few years Keith had kept in touch with Don attending a few get togethers for lunch and meetings with other ex OTC guys.

May He Rest In Peace.

David Solomon has advised that Colin Reddel passed away on Friday 15th July.

Colin worked for OTC in the satellite area in Head Office. He made a number of trips to Carnarvon, when I worked there.

Later he worked with the National Satellite Division which became Aussat. Colin was based in Los Angeles for over two year, monitoring the Hughes ground system contract covering the Belrose and Lockridge sites. He was my manager for the 10 months I worked with Hughes in L.A.

Colin continued with Optus until he retired to Corlette at Port Stephens.

Colin was diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer 6 weeks ago.

Colin is survived by his wife Jenni and son Greg, who live at Corlette and his oldest son Stephen, who lives in the U.K.

A memorial service will be held at Gateway Presbyterian Church in Anna Bay at 11am on Wednesday 27th July.

May He Rest In Peace.

Below is a photo of Colin (tallest in the centre) with a group of young adults at a Carnarvon Church event, circa 1971 or 1972 (supplied by David Solomon)

Jim Simpson has relayed the sad news provided by Joy Goodman that her partner, Bob Goodman, has passed away last night (Monday 27 June 2022).

Jim has previously advised the Vets that Bob had been unwell for a long time and in care, though his memory of his special time & involvement with OTC/NASA remained firm.

Bob had a high profile involvement in the co-ordination of international telecommunications services via OTC in support of NASA’s past space missions, not least the Apollo 11 Moon Landing on 21^st July 1969.

Jim offered to share this sad news with colleagues who knew Bob during his working life:

• OTVA veterans
• John Sarkissian (Parkes Deep Space Radio Telescope) and Colin Mackellar, both of whom have close links with others that Bob worked with in those days in the NASA Tracking Stations in Tidbinbilla, Honeysuckle Creek
• Mike Dinn, former Deputy Director for NASA in Canberra.

The members of the OTVA have expressed their sincere condolences to Joy at this sad time.

In keeping with Bob’s wishes the funeral service will be a family/private affair.