John Barker has advised of the passing of Michael Debenham. Mike’s ex-wife, Louise, had passed on the sad news to John for relay to his ex-OTC friends and colleagues.

Funeral Service details:

WHEN:             10 am Thursday 11 October 2018,
WHERE:           Tobin Brothers Funerals, Sunbury, Melbourne, VIC.

I knew Mike when he was in the OTC training School from the late 70s until he was appointed to Manager Norfolk Island in 1993 where we remained for 3 years after which he travelled to Scoresby to take on the Manager role there.

Mike was a true gentleman. He was liked by all who knew him and as far as I am aware was well respected amongst the technical ranks in OTC.

He and Steve Corrigan were a pigeon pair when it came to many of the training courses that I attended where they were the instructors. Mike had the training knowledge and Steve had the technical knowledge. They complimented each other very well and I am sure that each learned from the other over time making them a very effective team.

May He Rest In Peace

It is with much sadness that I pass on the news that Graham has passed away

Graham had been living at home with his family. His brother, Brian, told me in June 2018 that Graham was not well due to his battle with myeloma (bone marrow cancer) which had developed into amyloidosis and his prospects were not good at that time. He was undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments to help him fight it.

Graham was transported to the Palliative Care Unit within Liverpool Hospital last night where he passed away at 2:00 am this morning. I believe that he was only about 60.

We pass on our sincere condolences to Brian and the rest of Graham’s family. May He Rest In Peace.

The below photos of Graham is from a 1994 Transit:

Elgin Brown passed away last week and her Memorial service was held Thursday 16 August 2018 at the RSL Village at Narrabeen.

It is 3 years since Lou passed away and Elgin was almost 92 years old.

It was a very nice service with words from her niece, Peggy, and nephew, John, and me as one of her oldest friends.

Regards

Keith McCredden

John’s daughter, Margaret, passed on the sad news that John has passed away in the Golf Links Road Palliative Care Unit early on Friday August 10th.

Dad was 86. He had lymphoma for some time and was in the terminal phase of this disease when he fell and broke his femur approximately 4 weeks ago.

He had been in hospital since then and finally the Palliative Care Unit.

Sadly the fall and subsequent surgery made his last weeks more difficult.

Funeral Notice – The Age – Monday 13th August 2018.

BENNETT 
John McLean
04.04.1932 – 10.08.2018

Dearly loved by his wife Jan and daughters Margaret, Elizabeth and Jane and his son-in-law Malcolm. Pop Pop to granddaughters Jessica, Emily, Alice and Grace. Grand Pop to John and Rebecca. John Pop to his nine great grandchildren.

Greatly missed by all.

Private Cremation.

In accordance with his wishes there is no funeral. I you wish to contact his wife, Jan, her email address is: janet.i.bennett@gmail.com

May He Rest In Peace

I rang Barry in February 2018 to seek his permission to put him in contact with an ex-OTC technician, David Free, who valued the relationship that he had with Barry in the mid-1980s and wanted to catch up. His son, Ken, answered Barry’s phone and told me that the cancer that Barry had successfully fought 10 years earlier had come back and he was in Lismore Hospital undergoing treatment and the future did not look promising. Ken asked that I not pass anything on to OTVA members as his father was in no fit state to talk to anyone or have visitors.

Barry turned 82 years of age on 18^th May 2018 and celebrated the event with some close friends despite the fact that he was very sick and those who were there did not think that he would last very long at all. One of those was Max Davis who had become a close family friends over the years. Max is amazed that he last as long as he did.

Barry passed away on 1 August 2018 at 5:30pm. He had entered palliative care in Byron Bay in the weeks prior to his passing.

Max contacted me today to pass on the details of Barry’s funeral supplied by his daughter, Alison.

His funeral is expected to be held at the Uniting Church in Leura NSW:

WHERE:         23A Grose St, Leura NSW 2780

WHEN:            Monday 13 August 2018 at 11am

I have Alison’s contact details and can provide them upon request to any of Barry’s ex-OTC work colleagues who would like them to pass on their condolences, etc.

May He Rest In Peace

David Munro has advised Paul Weirick that Fred James passed away recently & has asked him to pass the word to Fred’s OTC colleagues. Fred was an engineer who worked primarily in the cable planning area. Paul advises that many of our engineers in the Vets would have known Fred very well.

Fred had been battling Parkinson’s Disease for well over 5 years.  Paul saw him about 5 years ago when the dementia was in its early stages. He & Marcia had moved into Woolooware Shores retirement village at Sylvania a few years earlier when Fred was first diagnosed. Marcia then cared for Fred at home until a few years ago, when he needed extra care & moved into Goodhew Gardens, the on-campus Residential Care facility.

David comments that Marcia & the family are coping well & had a lovely service for Fred, which included a folder with a collection of OTC memorabilia.   “Fred was a great collector and there were pamphlets about cable systems, photos, announcements, newspaper articles etc.”

Apart from Fred’s OTC achievements, many of us might recall his heroic efforts during the 1994 Jannali/Como bushfires when Fred stayed to defend their house with the result that theirs was the only house in the street which survived the fire. When Paul last spoke with him 5 years ago, despite the advancing dementia, Fred remembered that day in great detail, along with various technical details of cable systems he had been involved with over the years at OTC.  It’s amazing what the mind clings to.

We understand Fred was about 78.

Marcia is keen to talk to any of her old acquaintances from the OTC fraternity and I can provide her contact details to those who are keen to do that. Please email me at president@otva.com for those details.

 May He Rest In Peace.

Fred can be seen 2^nd from the left (front row) in this picture from 1994 Transit when he worked in Network Planning.

John’s son, Glen, has informed me that his father passed away on June 3.

John died peacefully in his sleep with complications from dementia.

Memorial Service

WHEN:                 1:30pm Tuesday 12 June 2018

WHERE:               St Paul’s Anglican Church

129 Gymea Bay Road, Gymea

If any of John’s workmates would like to attend, the family has said that you are most welcome.

Gerry Serrao was contacted by Robert Michell [Ex OTC Broadway] over the weekend to advise the passing of Owen Harris. [Ex-OTC Broadway 1980’s – 1992?]

I underwent training with Owen in the early 1970s. He was a very likeable guy with long black hair then and drove a black Torana in those early years which was admired by many of us that did not have a ‘cool’ car.

After completing his 4-year training course Owen apparently worked in Melbourne supporting the HF Radio teams while some of their staff served in Antarctica before undertaking a stint in Satellites and finally working out his career in OTC at the Broadway terminal.

In recent years Owen had been battling cancer from its first diagnosis in his early 50s. It finally won the battle while he was investigating the purchase of property in the Tea Gardens area and that is why his daughters chose this location for his funeral service and burial.

Owen will be sadly missed by his family (wife and 4 daughters).

The details of the funeral service are as follows:

WHEN:               1.00pm Thursday 31st May

WHERE:             St Stephen’s Church
                         Tea Gardens NSW 2324

A Celebration of Owen’s Life will follow at:

Tea Gardens Country Club & Motel

2 Yalinbah St, Tea Gardens NSW 2324.

MAY HE REST IN PEACE

Peter Bull

Ken has been battling cancer but it finally won.

His family (wife Jan, previously Secretary to W G Gosewinckel, etc, ) is arranging a private funeral service.

He was in OTC Construction especially Satellite Earth Stations for many years and worked with Jim Robertson and Phil Humphries; all radio specialists.

Ken designed and supervised the construction of  the Moree,  Carnarvon and Ceduna satellite earth stations.

When he retired orm OTC he was probably Class 5 Engineer or above in the old terminology.

Allan McPherson has advised of the passing of ERIC COCKLE on probably Saturday 9 December 2017.

Eric finished his over 40 year employment in OTC at the level of Senior Accountant. I do not recall having the pleasure of meeting Eric personally but have been told that he was a very nice person who was well liked and respected by his many friends and colleagues. He apparently enjoyed a good game of bowls.

If you would like to share a tribute or a photo of Eric with the wider group please email me.

The funeral service will be held for Eric on Wednesday 20^th December 2017 at 11:00am at Leura Gardens Cemetery Chapel in the Blue Mountains.