Vi passed away in Moe Victoria. Vi was cremated at the Bunurong Memorial Park Dandenong South.

Vi commenced with OTC on 1.8.1954 as a Telephonist and later as a Phono/Printer/Beam Operator then Overseer Printergrams until retirement/redundancy. Vi loved her Golf being a Member of the Moe Golf Club also a keen Bird Watcher, Reader, Gardener and Photographer. A great supporter of the OTC Netball Team in Melbourne so many years ago and always in attendance.

Vi was held in high esteem by her colleagues being in charge of the Telephonists section as a lady that stood no nonsense from male or female colleagues that needed to be kept in order, which Vi was an expert at.

Notice of her death was not published until after the event.

Joan passed away in the Linacre Hospital Hampton Victoria. Joan was cremated at Springvale Crematorium

Since Joan’s parents passed away many years ago Joan has lived with her sister Hazel and her late husband Vern in Hampton Vic.
Joan has had a few falls over the last few years, broken hip, and recently found she had a fractured leg and was ulcerated and put in the Linacre Hospital Hampton where she remained and passed away there.

Joan belonged to the Banjo Club Melbourne for many years. My dear friend and work colleague Joan I met the first day I started at OTC (A) in Queen Street Melbourne in February 1957 and it was a pleasure to have worked with Joan very closely for 28 years or more. On 22nd August I decided to ring Joan to see how she was going, shocked to find that Joan passed away 7 weeks ago and no notice in papers.

Joan was featured in the August 1988 TRANSIT Longest-serving member: Joan Miller Retires with the distinction of being the longest- serving staff member to retire from OTC, following 47 years in the business – beginning with AWA in 1941. George Maltby presented Joan with a Gold watch.

RIP Joan. (by Robert Hall)

Ferne passed away at the BUPA Coburg Vic. Beloved wife of Cyril (dec) Mother of David and Sue (dec) Mother-in-law to Rae and Grandmother to Shane, Rhiannon, Glen, Craig, Emma and Justin.
Funeral held at Joyce Chapel Fawkner Cemetery 10.15am Wed. 26th August 2015. 22 persons were in attendance including OTVA Robert & Judith Hall, Warren Marshall and Lynette McKenzie.
Joan was one of the girls working under Vi Harrison in the Printergram/Telephonists room

Vernon Yen has advised that Kim Ayoub passed away on 10 August 2015 after a long illness. Kim’s wife, Hiatt, contacted him recently and passed on the sad news.

Our sincere condolences are extended to Kim’s family and friends.

May He Rest In Peace.

Allan Hennessy has just informed me that Henry’s Barbara has just given him the sad news that Henry passed away yesterday afternoon after he was released from St George Hospital and being moved into a Nursing Home.

As funeral arrangements are clarified I will update you further.

I have known Henry since about 1980 when he was Manager of the Paddington Terminal until 1985-6 when he went to Maritime. I have always found him to be generous with his time and advice. He was a member of the OTVA Committee for in excess of 12 years and was OTVA President for a number of them.

He was always full of stories about events that transpired in OTC in which he was involved and the characters of OTC that had impacted upon him over the many years in which he worked for OTC after moving from PMG. He had his memory right till the end and there are many untold stories that have gone to heaven with him.

May He Rest In Peace

Peter Bull

Keith McCredden and Ted Bastow have alerted me to the passing of Lou Brown yesterday.

Lou and Keith worked together at Fanning Island in the early 1960s and they had remained good friends ever since.

Keith will provide more detailed info when it comes to hand.

May He Rest In Peace.

Lou retired in January 1985 after 28 years with OTC. He started as a Traffic Assistant in SOR and retired as Senior Marketing Officer with the Marketing Division.

When Les Ayers spoke to Charlie in early to mid May Charlie had said that he was in considerable pain and off to see the doctor the following day. That is apparently when he was told that him that his cancer had returned.

On Monday 15 June 2015 Les advised that Charlie was in the Macquarie University Hospital and it was at this time that the doctors had told him that is was untreatable. Les advised that Charlie had declined visitors. When Les spoke to him he seemed quite cheerful but heavily sedated.

On Tuesday 30 June 2015 Les managed to contact Charlie’s daughter who told him that he had passed away last Monday.

The funeral service is delayed as Charlie’s daughter is out of Sydney and some relatives are overseas. She advised that the funeral details will be in Thursday’s SMH.  The service will be at Rookwood Catholic Chapel but the date and time of the service are as yet unclear.

If anyone has any photos of Charlie and/or a Tribute that they would like to share please email them to me and I will upload them to the OTVA web site.

May He Rest In Peace

The below excerpt is from the January 1989 Transit

The below is an excerpt from the August 1985 Transit

Denis Chambers has advised that John Norris passed away a couple of months ago.

John was a Melbourne man who will be well remembered by all those who went to Wagga on the Australia Day Weekend for all those years to play cricket.  He was a very good cricketer with both bat and ball and a real gentleman on the field.

John retired on Tuesday 20 March 1984 to the Gold Coast with his wife Mildred after 38 years with OTC. John did not keep in touch with the vets or many of the ex OTC people.

The sad news was passed on by Keith McCredden

The below photo is from Transit after a Caboolture Day in 1986.

From Derek Walker:

I was very saddened to get the news from a friend that Ray Johnson had died on 4^th June from the cancer that he’d been diagnosed with only a few short months ago . Ray’s wife Pat died about five years ago. He is survived by his daughter Michelle

I first met Ray when my family and I were transferred from Perth to Port Moresby in 1964. Ray and his family had been transferred from La Perouse some time previously and even then he made no secret of his ambition to eventually become Manager La Perouse He had what was taken by some to be an offhand manner, but once you got to know him and especially if you were interested in cricket and classical music, (which I was) his manner thawed and we becamegood friends. This was helped by th fact that the Johnsons’ house was up a flight of stone steps on the side of our house and each Sunday evening we would walk up those steps (taking care not todisturb the small snakes that were usually sunning themjselves on them) for a barbecue with the Johnsons. When the cricket season started Ray and I managed to persuade the Konedobu cricket club that we were practicallyTest material The side always seemed to be chronically short of players and Ray and I went through the season alternately playing in the number10 and number 11spots.

Transferring from Moresby to Lae in 1965 I lost touch with Ray until out of the blue he arrived in Lae as manager and we picked up the friendship again. After two years he went back down south and took on the job of Asst Manager La Perouse, bu had to wait 12 years before Ken Stone eventually retired and Ray achieved his ambition.Unfortunately for Ray the powers that be decided they needed him in Maritime head office and he became Manager Operational Procedures (MOPS), cutting short his stint as Manager La Perouse.

When I retired as Manager Perth Maritime in 1990 Ray somehow wangled a trip over to the West for my farewell do at Gnangara, which I thought wa extremely kind of him

One thing that I always thought rather eccentric in a man who spent his working life in telecommunications was that Ray flatly refused to have a computer in the house after he retired, so any communication one had with him had to be by snail mail or telephone.

So long Ray, it was good to know you

I am writing to inform you of the death of Phil Harris (Rockbank, Fiskville, Moree, Ceduna, Guam, Cairns, Bringelly).

Dad had been in declining health for the last year – since the death of my mother Thelma – and had been in residential care in Castlemaine for the last two months.

As per the notice in The Age today, he died on Wednesday 13/5. There will be no funeral or memorial services in accordance with his wishes.

I can be contacted at timharris05@optusnet.com.au.

Regards

Tim Harris (son)