VALE - John "Joe" Goulder

It is with sadness that I advise that we have just learned that John Goulder passed away in May of 2011.
Our sincere condolences are extended to his wife Thea and their family.

John, or "Joe" as we knew him at Arnolds (as in "Surfer Joe", due to his blonde hair and liking for the beach), was a draughtsman with the Engineering Dept. and along with several other young Arnold employees (including myself) at the time, was required to register for National Service.
John went to Vietnam, together with Garth Brook and, as far as I am aware, at least two others whose names escape me.

On his return to Arnolds and resuming his role with the drawing office, and in response to the standard question "What was it like over there?", I remember with great clarity John replying "I designed shit-houses for colonels"! He was one of the rare exceptions where someone actually did what their profession had trained them to do.

John left Arnolds prior to the merge with Otis and it was during our search for ex-employees in 2004 that we were fortunate in tracking him down for the reunion of 2005, which he attended (see photo, below. That is John on the extreme right, behind John Inglis and next to Stan Sek).

John, may all your days be sun-filled and may the surf always be "up".

PART 15: Another oldie surfaces!

Martin at Catalina Park, Katoomba on 12th. November 2012

Between 1963 and when he left Arnolds to join Elevators Pty Ltd (EPL) in 1969, Martin Seturins was employed as a detail draftsman (or "draughtsman" as the word was spelled back then) in the drawing office at Arnold's.
He was very much into sportscars (and is still a car enthusiast, like most of we old revheads) and I recall very clearly a time when he invited a crowd of us around to his home at Meadowbank to help rewire his "bugeye" Austin Healy Sprite. More alcohol was consumed than work was done!
He is now into Alfa Romeos, one of which is a restoration project.

Martin was unable to attend the 2005 reunion and just six months ago he moved from Sydney to Lawson, in the Blue Mountains. Bob Deahm contacted him and made arrangements for the three of us to meet on Monday 12th. November. I drove up from Canberra, accepting a kind invitation from Bob and his wife Beverly to stay overnight at their Leura home.

The three of us then spent a nostalgic Monday as we revisited the old circuit at Catalina Park for the first time since we used to go to motor-racing meetings some 45 years ago. The reminiscing continued over lunch at the Lawson pub.

So I'm tickled pink to be able to add Martin to the list of those old Arnoldians and to have met up with him after such a long time.
He hasn't changed - lost a bit of weight and hair is about all. Great to see him!

PART 14: Another name emerges!

Out of the blue I had an email from one of Arnolds Elevator Service's apprentice electricians (as was I) who was enquiring after the whereabouts of Kevin Garland.
Peter Rusanow is the gentleman's name and he worked under Kevin as an apprentice between 1963 and 1968.

It's nice to know that the website is serving a purpose and I am also pleased to be able to add another name to the "FOUND!" list.

Welcome home, Peter!

Incidentally, for those wondering where Kevin is living, it is a suburb of Brisbane.
I have contact details if you require them.

Until next time.
Bruce

PART 13: Faces from the office.

(Click on the image for a much larger version).

This photograph was sent to Bob (Deahm) by Sharon Tankard only a couple of days ago and is the only one we have that features the office staff.

We reckon that it was taken around 1967/1968, that guestimate simply based on memories of who was there, when. It was definitely after 1966 and before 1970.

Aren't the hairstyles great and also the mini-skirts?!

Bring back the 1960s, that's all I can say!

The names - from left to right:-

Unknown - Renee Little - Chris Whitney - Jim Tankard - Paula Wright (nee Tulk) - Anne Kovacs - George Blanning - Gail Connor.

Do you remember George wandering through the building at the end of the pay-week, pointing to each person and saying "Time cards! Time cards! Time cards!"?

VALE - Jim Tankard

I am sorry to report that I received an email from Bob Deahm yesterday (9th. Nov) in which he related that he recently called Jim's home (in Toowoomba) and was advised by Enid Tankard that Jim had succumbed to bowel cancer in July.

PART 12: More faces - Then and Now

This update is simply a collection of photos of some of us back then and now.

I'll start off with the most recent addition, Larry Lawrence, who popped up a few weeks ago out of the blue.

Apparently Larry just Googled "Arnold Elevators" and came across the original website that I'd created after the reunion and from the information therein, he was able to contact me.

(The power of the internet is at times quite amazing.)

Larry turns 60 this year, currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, married to a lovely lady by the name of Lauren and is planning on returning to Oz for a holiday next year and, in a couple of years, permanently.

Here is Larry with wife Lauren............

Stan Sek was a bit of an outdoors type of bloke.......huntin', shootin' and fishin'.

Here's Stan with what is probably a Golden Perch, but which he'd most likely try and tell us was a Barramundi! Photo taken somewhere near Coonabarabran, circa 1972.

Stan Sek and Bruce Kennewell, Sofala, 1969-ish.

Stan loaned me one of his rifles - a semi-automatic .22 device - a Ruger, I think it was.

Only problem was that it had a fault which allowed it to fire as a fully automatic - like a sub-machine gun - and it went through a full magazine (12 rounds) in a split second! Very exciting but hard to shoot anything!

In 1972 Arnold's sponsored an entry in the inaugural Rotaract Raft Race, held on the murky waters of the Hawkesbury River, the race commencing at Windsor and ending what seemed like hundreds of kilometres down-river but was actually about 10 k's.

In the above photo, that's Lenny Payne baring his body to the sun god.

He was probably cheering with delight at our retirement, seeing that there was bugger-all wind and rowing that craft was just not a viable alternative.

Arnold's supplied the empty Shell Tellus 27 and Shell Tellus 32 five-gallon drums, the timber, fixings and welding supplies, with the raft being built after-hours at 14-16 O'Connor St. Well, it was mostly after-hours.
Clive Smith kindly lent mast, boom, sails and rigging from one of his yachts and crew-members were made up of both Arnold's staff and members of the Blacktown Rotaract Club....those who weren't also Arnold's employees!

Sadly, the brilliant move to place most of our motive power in the reliance on wind failed miserably........there was damn-all and what there was came from the wrong direction! I think we retired well before the finishing line and were revived by young maidens dispensing amber liquid.

In the above photo, Ian Davis wields an oar as he casts a concerned eye towards the stern (are we sinking already?!) and Bruce Kennewell, playing a masterly role as coxswain, rests his head against the leech of the sail as he prays for a strong breeze from astern.

Part 10: More photos from the past.

The following photos were taken when Arnolds was completing installation of the Tail Maintenance Lift in the new 747 Hangar at QANTAS Jet Base, Kingsford Smith Airport. This was around 1971.

Bob Deahm took the shots, referring to them as "Bruce doing bugger-all as he watched two blokes work!".

Bob and I would try and find as many reasons as possible to visit this job, both of us being mad aircraft enthusiasts (still are) and the new Boeing 747 being such an awe-inspiring aircraft at that time.

 

 

We couldn't remember the name of the mechanic in the overalls until after the reunion, when Garth Brook, Jack Wilson and Peter Nesbitt all identified him as Ray Burns.

But the identity of the bloke inside the lift car still eludes us. Here's an enlargement......

If you can put a name to the face, please let me know.

PART 4 - Arnolds' Staff: Names that we could recall.

The following is a list of others (not at the reunion) whose names we could remember as we (Bob & I) sat around and brain-stormed for a while.
If you can add any - or if you know the whereabouts of someone on the list - please let me know at bhk@outlook.com.au

NAME	POSITION or DEPARTMENT	NOTES (Which may or may not be helpful)
Ledwidge, Ralph	Service Manager
Moffat, Tom	Service Supervisor
Kovacs, Anne	Telephonist/Reception
Fredericks, Lynne	Reception	Was "Miss Otis" in 1974 (?)
Tulk, Paula	Reception?	Blonde.
Freeman, Ken	Arnold-Otis Manager	Ken looked after the "conglomerate" company...circa 1974 -1975.
Saunders, Rob	Draftsman
Fitzgerald, Dave	Print Room
Maddox, Alexis (Alexa?)	Print Room
Maddox, Mitchell	Trainee Draftsman	Surfie. Always wore thongs...black ones on formal occasions.
Gray, John	Draftsman	Deceased (Just before the reunion we learned that John had died 3 years previously)
Yip, Tom	Draftsman
Hilder, Geoff	Draftsman	FOUND! Living in the Blue Mts.
O'Flanagan, Jan	Tracer
Achurch, Rob	Trainee Draftsman	Joined the police force.
Abernathy, Bob	Drawing Office?
Lawrence, Larry	Trainee Draftsman	FOUND! Living in the USA (see Oct. 11th. 2011 Update).
Willoughby, Ken	Electrical Shop
Lawrence, Gordon	Elec. Shop Foreman	Passed away April 1999, at Bateman's Bay
Church, Jeff	Electrical Fitter
Hill, Jim	Electrical Fitter
McIlwraith, Alan	Storeman
Carey, Jack	Welder
Falzon, Joe	Fitter
Telekki, Tibor	Turner (rams)
Edwards, Jack	Machinist
Sutton, John	?
Baxter, Brian	Service - Electrician
Coates, Bob	Service - Electrician
Nehls, Helmut	Service/Repairs - Electrician	George Farham coined the nickname "Crash-hat"!
Johnson, Ray	Service/Repairs - Assistant
Glanville, Paul	Service - Electrician
Hudson, Kevin	Service/repairs - Fitter	Rode a Yamaha motorbike.
Hudson, Dennis	Service/Repairs - Fitter	Brother of Kevin...also rode a Yamaha motorbike!
Jansen, Ron	Installation - Electrician
Aquilina, Peter	?
Fitzgerald, Reg	Service - Electrician
McArthy, Dennis	?
McArthy, Arthur	?
Byatt, Leo	Electrical Fitter
Fisher, Bert	Engineering	Reported to be in Germany.
Loussakian, Hratch	Engineering
Ayling, Brian	Engineering
Alan Andrews	Truck driver	Delivered lift "stuff" to sites.
McKay, Bruce	?

UPDATE OCTOBER 2011.
Larry Lawrence mentioned other names not on the list:- Wayne Woodward (Drawing Office), Roslyn "Roz" Hurd (Administration), Len Payne (Drawing Office - believed to be on the Central Coast somewhere), Steve Williams (??), Arthur Morgan (??) and "Morrie" Herring (Drawing Office - we believe that Morrie passed away back in the 1980s).

UPDATE MAY 2012
We have heard from Peter Rusadow, an apprentice between 1963 and 1968.