Alan started with OTC (A) in Lonsdale Street Melbourne as Traffic Assistant Gr. 1. on 17 April 1961 and resigned on 16 August 1968.  R.I.P.

Funeral Service:

WHEN: 12:00 pm Friday 7th July 2017

WHERE: St. Stephen’s Anglican Church,

Corner Phyllis Street and Warruga Avenue, Bayswater Vic.

Devoted husband of Pam cherished father and father-in-law of Kellie and Sean, Jamie and Vivien.

Much loved Grandpa of Jasmine, Portia and Harley.

You left us unexpectedly, alone and very sad but with a lifetime of memories.

R.I.P.

Robert Hall

OTVA VIC

Fellow Members of the OTVA

Bernie and his wife, Evelyn, have been living with their son, Laurie and his wife, Noelene, for some time now but had relocated to a nursing home prior to his passing.

Bernie has been a great contributor to and supporter of the OTVA for many years and will be well known to many of you.  He was a Life Member of the OTVA and an active member of the OTVA Executive for many years until 3 years ago when he started to experience some health & well-being issues.

Bernie’s Working Life

• Joined AWA in 1938 as a messenger at 14 years of age and gained experience as a telegraphist until he was appointed as a Ships Radio Officer in 1949.
• Joined OTC in 1957 as a “Island Room Operator”
• Seconded to Papua New Guinea Telegraph from 1960 to 1964 as the Radio Officer In Charge
• Returned to OTC as a Radio Officer, CRS in 1966 where he worked in Sydney Radio and Darwin Radio
• Appointed in 1967 to the position of Pay Clerk & Administration Officer in Operations Branch until his resignation from OTC in 1976 to take charge of his own accountancy business.

Funeral Service:

1:30pm

Monday 26 June 2017

United Church,  70 Kitchener Pd, Bankstown NSW

It is with great sadness that I relay to you the passing of Bob Kraal.

I worked with Bob in the Paddington ITMC in the 1970s. He was a character that I will never forget. Bob also worked at Ceduna Earth Station & Scoresby Exchange. If you would like to send a Tribute to Bob’s family please send it to me and I will pass it on and with your permission also include it on the OTVA web site.

Thanks to Ed Willingham for passing on the details of his funeral service which are:

Robert Willem Kraal

31/8/1944 – 11/6/2017

Funeral:               Lilydale Memorial Park Chapel,

126 – 128 Victoria Road, Lilydale

When:                  Monday 17/6/2017 @ 10am.

Peter Bull

Sandra Smith (nee Beatson) asked:

Do you know if Phil Chapman is still alive.  I remember working for him when his Secretary went on long service leave.  A character to be sure.  He was Manager of the Coastal Radio Service and he had stored in his office lots of ships logs of sailing ships that sailed around the horn.  I remember him dictating the report (I think weekly) which noted all at sea events i.e. Man overboard etc.  I can see me sitting outside his office bashing away on an old typewriter.  Had to be a good typist in those days as there was no correction facility on the typewriter.  That was one of the more interesting relieving positions that I held.  He was what made it interesting as you never knew what he was going to say next.  Not always politically correct and not seen as an issue in those days.

Did a search on him as I remember him telling me about his days in Darwin during the war.  Not sure if you have seen this.

Interview with Phil Chapman (When the war came to Australia)

Subsequent to a question from Sandra Smith (nee Beatson) as to the whereabouts of Phil Chapman, Brendan Quirk asked whatever happened to Phil’s ever-present sidekick, Arch Barry.

Tom Barker has advised that Arch died soon after Tom left Telstra in about 1999. Tom wanted to go to his funeral but his family (NZ) insisted it be private.

McCarthy – Gerard Francis
Passed away peacefully, surrounded by family at R. M. Begg Kyneton Aged Care on Monday evening.
Sadly missed by Maureen, all of his loving children and grandchildren.

A life well lived ended with grace and dignity

FUNERAL NOTICE
McCARTHY –
Requiem Mass for the repose of The soul of Gerard Francis McCarthy will be offered at St Joseph’s Church, Westbourne Grove, Northcote on Monday (April 10th) at 11.00am

A private Cremation will follow.

May He Rest In Peace

I think the Subject line says it all. It is with great sadness and relief that I need to let you know Dad died at 11.06 Friday 3rd March 2017.

The three of us were with him. I think that is why he was hanging on.

For anyone that saw Dad, especially over these last few months you will understand the relief part. He fought one hell of a battle against this disgusting and cruel disease. As some of you may know Dad has been unconscious since last Thursday and to go for as long as he did with no food or water had everyone absolutely amazed, but Dad never does anything the normal way.

Now he can be back with Mum as when we lost her it was terrible for all of us, especially Dad, am sure she is there with Lucie, a Guinness for him and champagne for her just waiting for him to join her.

It was peaceful as much as we could tell, certainly hope it was for Dad. Must admit we all feel a tad numb at the moment but that is to be expected.

The funeral will be this Friday, 10th at Pinnaroo East Chapel at 10.30am with tea, coffee and snacks after at Pinnaroo.

Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes, visits and anything else over these last nearly 15 months.

Will keep in touch.

Love

Judi, Ian and Sandy

Peter’s daughter, Jo Carver, advised that Peter passed away last night.

His passing was peaceful and the family is grateful for that.

Peter was living in Nambucca NSW independent & on his own until he became unwell in December. He never lost his fabulous sense of humour.

I have no other details at this stage but will update you if I hear any more.

May He Rest In Peace

Here’s a photo of him with a couple of his great grandchildren.

The below photo is from the Feb 1972 Transit magazine.

Alex had a Seniority date of 17.2.1943 so that may make him about 92 years of age at his passing.

Alex’s daughter, Christine Murdoch, advised Keith McCredden of Alex’s passing.

No other details are known at this time but I will update you on funeral service details when they become known or you can check for yourself by clicking here.

Alexander Griffiths transferred to OTC from A.W.A. as Telegraphist, studied in the Cable School and then served at Cottesloe from 1954 to 1957 when he returned to Sydney for a refresher course. Alex went to Suva later that year.

Alex worked on the Apollo-Soyuz launch for OTC at Doonside in 1975

May He Rest In Peace

The daughter of Maurice (Maurie) Matthysz, Vivienne, has advised that Maurie passed away on Sunday 22 January 2017.

Maurie commenced at OTC in Melbourne in 1955, transferred to Sydney and spent a lot of his working life at Paddington.

Maurie worked in Madang in the early 70’s, Guam from 1980 to 1983, 1985 to 1987, Norfolk Island from 1988 to 1990 before finally returned to Guam to finalise the closing of the station.

Maurie battled diabetes for a number of years and then developed macular degeneration which he maintained was the ultimate insult as he couldn’t read and enjoy the new computer and communication technologies.

A Funeral Service for Maurie Matthysz will be held on Tuesday 31 January at 10.00am at the Macquarie Park Crematorium.

I had the pleasure of working with Maurie in the ITMC at Paddington from 1975 to 1980. He was a very gentle and generous man who was well-liked by everyone who worked with him or worked for OTC and knew him.

May He Rest In Peace

Clearly Maurie liked that shirt …..