Geoffrey Squires
In memory of Dr Geoffrey Squires, his family invite you add your memories of Geoff in words or photos. We would like his children to learn more about their father through your stories, Please include information about when and where the story took place and a little about yourself as well.
Obituary
Geoffrey was born in Annandale on 24 March 1957, to Ron and Betty Squires. The family moved to Hunters Hill when Geoff was 2 with his younger sister, Robyn. He attended Boronia Park Public School (1962-68) and Hunters Hill High School (1969-1974) before studying his Bachelor of Dental Surgery, University of Sydney (1975-1979).
Upon graduation he joined the RAAF as Dentist with the rank of Flight Lieutenant on 21 January 1980. Served with 34 Squadron and at 3 Hospital and Air Headquarters Richmond as a Dentist before taking a position as RAAF Aide-de-Camp to the Governor General, Sir Zelman Cowan AK, GCMG, GCVO for 12 months (April 1981-March 1982), he received his commission while working at Government House. Geoff was promoted Squadron Leader in 1983 and left the permanent RAAF in 1984 and joined the RAAF Reserve. As a RAAF reservist he worked as a Dentist with 5 Squadron, and then 22 Squadron at Williamtown. Geoff was promoted to Wing Commander in 2000 and joined the Specialist Reserve in 2004. He was promoted to Group Captain and appointed Director Specialist Health Reserves on 15/1/2009. Geoff retired from the service 21/1/2022 after serving the RAAF for 42 years.
Geoff studied Orthodontics and completed his Master of Dental Science (Orthodontics), University of Sydney in 1990. After graduation he worked in Western Sydney until commencing his own practice in Sydney, then opened surgeries in Gladesville, Muswellbrook, Tuggerah and Forster. At the time of his passing, he was running practices at Gladesville, Taree and Burnie, Tasmania. In 1999-2000 he completed the Roth/Williams International Society of Orthodontics course in the USA.
Geoff met Skye Sanderson on 27 September 1991 at the Australian Jockey Club (AJC) Young Members Ball and they met again at Randwick Races the following weekend and the rest is history... Geoff and Skye married on 23 October 1993. They have 3 children - George born 1998 (age 27), Kate born 2000 (age 24) and Henry born 2011 (age 13).
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April 7, 2025
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Dr Squires was unwaveringly kind and polite in every interaction I had with him – most of which occurred more than 25 years ago and were brief, but I still remember them. He was colleagues with my Dad, Dr Tony O'Meara, and my sisters and I would often visit the surgery after school waiting for our lift home. Dr Squires would remember the sports we played and our subjects of interest, he would ask questions and listen to the answers. May George, Kate and Henry know that even in the little interactions of life their Dad had such grace.
April 1, 2025
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Our sincere condolences to Skye and the family. As terrible as his departure was, the memorial service was a tribute to Geoff's life and his extraordinary contribution to the profession, the armed services, the University of Sydney and his love of his family. I hope you and the children will find solace and peace in knowing that Geoff had made extraordinary contribution to his profession and community, and at the same time touched the lives of so many,
Our time together as next door neighbours for many years at the Piccadilly Court in Sydney, his bright smile and ready laughter, and his willingness to help out will be missed but never be forgotten.
Our time together as next door neighbours for many years at the Piccadilly Court in Sydney, his bright smile and ready laughter, and his willingness to help out will be missed but never be forgotten.
March 29, 2025
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Eulogy delivered by Dr Ann Collins on 25 March 2025
By way of introduction I am Ann Collins; and myself and Geoff McKellar were not only lifelong colleagues but good friends with Geoff …. Sharing many happy occasions together with the Squires family especially Christmases and birthdays, and of course the occasional visits to Rosehill and Randwick race courses! But importantly we are also god parents to Kate and Henry, which is very special.
It is an honour to say a few words about Geoff, his dental career and his children …… my first thought of remembering Geoff was our smiling faces when we were both in the inspiring Great Hall of the University of Sydney receiving our Master’s degrees and thus finally embarking on our specialist careers! Geoff had graduated with his BDS in 1979 and then joined the RAAF as a dentist working in Richmond before his position as Aide De Comp to the then Governor General Sir Zelman Cowan in 1981/82 which , as we have heard, was a time he enjoyed very much and often recounted with great glee !
After completing his orthodontic specialist degrees he first worked in practice with Dr Tony O’Meara before opening his own surgeries initially in Gladesville as well as Muswellbrook, Tuggerah and Forster ……. he later also moved further afield practicing in Burnie in Tasmania once a month and maintained one practice at Taree……one cannot mention his orthodontic practices without mentioning team Squires…..i read the other day that a brother is a blessing but I think Geoff was very blessed to have his sister Robyn who ran team Squires …and probably knew more about where Geoff should be and what he should be doing than he did! All of us who run practices and businesses know that the team effort is essential for success! …….
Geoff was always active in the University of Sydney as an honorary associate lecturer , teaching post graduate orthodontic students and was a deputy president of both the the Faculty of Dentistry Foundation and the Dental Alumni Society as well as being involved in dental regional continuing education, giving lectures to civilian and military dental and medical professionals .
And at home he was blessed too, not only to have Skye but his 3 children George, Kate and Henry. He was immensely proud of them and always keen to see them well educated and successful in their lives . I can only say to you, George, Kate and Henry, to remember the happy times, when Dad made you laugh or smile and his pearls of wisdom even if you did not agree with him all the time! He will always be with you to guide you in your ongoing life and adventures!
2 weeks ago when Skye rang me with the sad news that Geoff had not woken up on the Monday morning, I was in Vietnam walking and hiking in the mountains of Sapa and the Cat Ba National Park……we were actually on the highest mountain in Indochina up in the clouds with the most exquisite complex of golden pagodas and statues…..the Buddhists build their temples on the tops of mountains to be close to their God; and as I walked around reflecting on Geoff, whose faith I admired, I thought, he is now close to his God and at peace. And in the last pagoda we visited in Hanoi I read some of the laws of karma but especially remembered this one…”the effect of treating others with love, kindness and respect …brings a lovely and kind face” … and that is how I will remember you Geoff!.....Thank you from myself and Geoff Mckellar for all the patients we have treated and shared over the years….. But especially thank you for your affection and friendship which was always greatly appreciated ….
God bless you Dr Squires; you were indeed a loyal and trusted friend!
By way of introduction I am Ann Collins; and myself and Geoff McKellar were not only lifelong colleagues but good friends with Geoff …. Sharing many happy occasions together with the Squires family especially Christmases and birthdays, and of course the occasional visits to Rosehill and Randwick race courses! But importantly we are also god parents to Kate and Henry, which is very special.
It is an honour to say a few words about Geoff, his dental career and his children …… my first thought of remembering Geoff was our smiling faces when we were both in the inspiring Great Hall of the University of Sydney receiving our Master’s degrees and thus finally embarking on our specialist careers! Geoff had graduated with his BDS in 1979 and then joined the RAAF as a dentist working in Richmond before his position as Aide De Comp to the then Governor General Sir Zelman Cowan in 1981/82 which , as we have heard, was a time he enjoyed very much and often recounted with great glee !
After completing his orthodontic specialist degrees he first worked in practice with Dr Tony O’Meara before opening his own surgeries initially in Gladesville as well as Muswellbrook, Tuggerah and Forster ……. he later also moved further afield practicing in Burnie in Tasmania once a month and maintained one practice at Taree……one cannot mention his orthodontic practices without mentioning team Squires…..i read the other day that a brother is a blessing but I think Geoff was very blessed to have his sister Robyn who ran team Squires …and probably knew more about where Geoff should be and what he should be doing than he did! All of us who run practices and businesses know that the team effort is essential for success! …….
Geoff was always active in the University of Sydney as an honorary associate lecturer , teaching post graduate orthodontic students and was a deputy president of both the the Faculty of Dentistry Foundation and the Dental Alumni Society as well as being involved in dental regional continuing education, giving lectures to civilian and military dental and medical professionals .
And at home he was blessed too, not only to have Skye but his 3 children George, Kate and Henry. He was immensely proud of them and always keen to see them well educated and successful in their lives . I can only say to you, George, Kate and Henry, to remember the happy times, when Dad made you laugh or smile and his pearls of wisdom even if you did not agree with him all the time! He will always be with you to guide you in your ongoing life and adventures!
2 weeks ago when Skye rang me with the sad news that Geoff had not woken up on the Monday morning, I was in Vietnam walking and hiking in the mountains of Sapa and the Cat Ba National Park……we were actually on the highest mountain in Indochina up in the clouds with the most exquisite complex of golden pagodas and statues…..the Buddhists build their temples on the tops of mountains to be close to their God; and as I walked around reflecting on Geoff, whose faith I admired, I thought, he is now close to his God and at peace. And in the last pagoda we visited in Hanoi I read some of the laws of karma but especially remembered this one…”the effect of treating others with love, kindness and respect …brings a lovely and kind face” … and that is how I will remember you Geoff!.....Thank you from myself and Geoff Mckellar for all the patients we have treated and shared over the years….. But especially thank you for your affection and friendship which was always greatly appreciated ….
God bless you Dr Squires; you were indeed a loyal and trusted friend!
March 26, 2025
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Eulogy Delivered by Christopher Birch
Geoff grew up at 2 Short Street Hunters Hill with his father Ron, his mother Betty and his sister Robyn. I remember that house well because I met Geoff for the first time when I was about 6 years old when he enrolled at Boronia Park Public School, he was 10 months my junior. Our lives would then proceed for over 60 years in near parallel.
Growing up in Hunters Hill in the 1960s was not at all like it would be today. In L. P. Hartley's off-quoted line from his novel The Go-Between, “the past is a foreign country they do things differently there”. Hunters Hill and Boronia Park perched on the edge of the Lane Cove River Valley gave young boys like Geoff access to the Boronia bush along the south western shore of the Lane Cove River.
Parents in those days had a more relaxed attitude to children's activities. Provided you were home by dark or by dinnertime there generally wasn't much concern. Geoff, I and our mates from Boronia Park Public School roamed this area freely, hunting for frogs in the creeks, engaging in struggles with gangs of boys from North Ryde, learning important life skills that stood us in good stead for our lives to come. Geoff was a regular visitor to my family home. He was a particular favourite of my mother because he had impeccable manners, something he maintained throughout his entire life, and he could actually play tunes on our piano, something no one else in the household was able to do.
In 1969, Geoff, I, and our Boronia Park gang headed off to Hunters Hill High School for the next six years of our lives. Over many dinners in the decades since, including with our mutual friend and ex-Hunters Hillian Amanda Darton, we picked over the successes and failures of Hunters Hill High School. But the one-sentence version is that while most of the teachers were not that great as teachers, we had a great bunch of friends. To a significant degree, we taught each other, or learned to teach ourselves and most of us did pretty well after school, and Geoff did outstandingly.
I always thought Geoff was a fairly staid, well-behaved student, but in later years he disclosed to me many almost alarming facts about the secret lives of my fellow students and their teachers.
Like our present times, the early 1970s were a period of political turmoil and most of us in high school started to form our views about the way the world should be run. I veered off to the left and for a brief period in senior high school saw Trotsky as my hero. Geoff on the other hand took a very different path and it was clear that his true hero was Robert Menzies, or as Geoff liked to affectionately call him, Ming. Despite our differences, we were able to cooperate in helping to produce the student newsletter named Taleban, spelt with an E, not an I, a remarkable journal which was completely uncensored by the staff and managed to cover the entire gamut of views about politics, the world and student life.
After school we headed to university. This was the one period of our lives when our contact became tenuous, Geoff spending most of his time down at the dental hospital while my studies kept me on campus or later at the law school in the city.
After finishing dentistry, in one of those forking path moments Geoff joined the RAAF as a flight lieutenant and the following year was appointed AideDe Camp to the Governor General Sir Zelman Cowan for the year April 1981 to March 1982.
After the turmoil of Sir John Kerr's Governor-Generalship, Sir Zelman had been appointed to restore the respect and integrity of that important constitutional post. The vice-regal year was undoubtedly one of the highlights of Geoff's professional life. He of course was someone who enjoyed a good uniform, but more seriously, the position gave him an extraordinary inside view of the operation of Australian government at its highest level and of its relationships with foreign dignitaries and statesmen.
Geoff learnt in that year, if he didn't already know, that no matter how famous or important you were, you were likely to have a decent share of personal idiosyncrasies and failings. It reinforced his outlook that respected the institutions and the people who maintain them, but ensured that he was never overawed or intimidated by rank or status.
In 1983 Geoff was promoted to squadron leader in the RAAF. He bore with good humor my countless quips about where he'd left his squadron. In 1984 he left the permanent RAAF and joined the RAAF Reserve. He remained an active member of the Reserve until his retirement from the service in 2022. He provided dental services to 5 Squadron and provided advice and guidance on the delivery of health services within the RAAF being appointed Director of Specialist Health Reserves in 2009.
Geoff's work in the reserve was an important social contribution. It reflected his strong sense of obligation to assist those in the world around us to the extent possible. Geoff's position with the RAAF also entitled him to take guests on tours of the bases. And a few years ago, I, my two sons, and a couple of Geoff's other friends had a tour through the Williamtown base. I found myself for the first and probably only time chatting with an F-16 fighter pilot. Conversation naturally turned to the advantages and disadvantages of pressing the ejector button.
By the late 1980s we were in regular contact once again and in 1991 we both found ourselves separated from our previous partners and headed back out into the social world. There were quite a few excursions we made together which were, looking back on them, pretty entertaining, although, I think at the time we were a little puzzled as to where we had landed ourselves.
We ended up on one occasion on a double date in a restaurant in Paddington, particularly memorable because seated at an adjoining table was the notorious detective Roger Rogerson with a grim crowd of his associates.
I too attended an AJC function or two in the second half of 1991, but I can't claim credit for having introduced Geoff to Skye. They married in October 1993. George was born in 1998 with Kate to follow in 2000 and Henry in 2011. When children arrive life gets serious and none could have taken it more seriously than Geoff.
My secretary was always bemused by my emails from Geoff, commencing with the greeting, Dear Comrade, (HHHS inside joke)
Well Comrade, farewell. We will always be thinking of you.
Geoff grew up at 2 Short Street Hunters Hill with his father Ron, his mother Betty and his sister Robyn. I remember that house well because I met Geoff for the first time when I was about 6 years old when he enrolled at Boronia Park Public School, he was 10 months my junior. Our lives would then proceed for over 60 years in near parallel.
Growing up in Hunters Hill in the 1960s was not at all like it would be today. In L. P. Hartley's off-quoted line from his novel The Go-Between, “the past is a foreign country they do things differently there”. Hunters Hill and Boronia Park perched on the edge of the Lane Cove River Valley gave young boys like Geoff access to the Boronia bush along the south western shore of the Lane Cove River.
Parents in those days had a more relaxed attitude to children's activities. Provided you were home by dark or by dinnertime there generally wasn't much concern. Geoff, I and our mates from Boronia Park Public School roamed this area freely, hunting for frogs in the creeks, engaging in struggles with gangs of boys from North Ryde, learning important life skills that stood us in good stead for our lives to come. Geoff was a regular visitor to my family home. He was a particular favourite of my mother because he had impeccable manners, something he maintained throughout his entire life, and he could actually play tunes on our piano, something no one else in the household was able to do.
In 1969, Geoff, I, and our Boronia Park gang headed off to Hunters Hill High School for the next six years of our lives. Over many dinners in the decades since, including with our mutual friend and ex-Hunters Hillian Amanda Darton, we picked over the successes and failures of Hunters Hill High School. But the one-sentence version is that while most of the teachers were not that great as teachers, we had a great bunch of friends. To a significant degree, we taught each other, or learned to teach ourselves and most of us did pretty well after school, and Geoff did outstandingly.
I always thought Geoff was a fairly staid, well-behaved student, but in later years he disclosed to me many almost alarming facts about the secret lives of my fellow students and their teachers.
Like our present times, the early 1970s were a period of political turmoil and most of us in high school started to form our views about the way the world should be run. I veered off to the left and for a brief period in senior high school saw Trotsky as my hero. Geoff on the other hand took a very different path and it was clear that his true hero was Robert Menzies, or as Geoff liked to affectionately call him, Ming. Despite our differences, we were able to cooperate in helping to produce the student newsletter named Taleban, spelt with an E, not an I, a remarkable journal which was completely uncensored by the staff and managed to cover the entire gamut of views about politics, the world and student life.
After school we headed to university. This was the one period of our lives when our contact became tenuous, Geoff spending most of his time down at the dental hospital while my studies kept me on campus or later at the law school in the city.
After finishing dentistry, in one of those forking path moments Geoff joined the RAAF as a flight lieutenant and the following year was appointed AideDe Camp to the Governor General Sir Zelman Cowan for the year April 1981 to March 1982.
After the turmoil of Sir John Kerr's Governor-Generalship, Sir Zelman had been appointed to restore the respect and integrity of that important constitutional post. The vice-regal year was undoubtedly one of the highlights of Geoff's professional life. He of course was someone who enjoyed a good uniform, but more seriously, the position gave him an extraordinary inside view of the operation of Australian government at its highest level and of its relationships with foreign dignitaries and statesmen.
Geoff learnt in that year, if he didn't already know, that no matter how famous or important you were, you were likely to have a decent share of personal idiosyncrasies and failings. It reinforced his outlook that respected the institutions and the people who maintain them, but ensured that he was never overawed or intimidated by rank or status.
In 1983 Geoff was promoted to squadron leader in the RAAF. He bore with good humor my countless quips about where he'd left his squadron. In 1984 he left the permanent RAAF and joined the RAAF Reserve. He remained an active member of the Reserve until his retirement from the service in 2022. He provided dental services to 5 Squadron and provided advice and guidance on the delivery of health services within the RAAF being appointed Director of Specialist Health Reserves in 2009.
Geoff's work in the reserve was an important social contribution. It reflected his strong sense of obligation to assist those in the world around us to the extent possible. Geoff's position with the RAAF also entitled him to take guests on tours of the bases. And a few years ago, I, my two sons, and a couple of Geoff's other friends had a tour through the Williamtown base. I found myself for the first and probably only time chatting with an F-16 fighter pilot. Conversation naturally turned to the advantages and disadvantages of pressing the ejector button.
By the late 1980s we were in regular contact once again and in 1991 we both found ourselves separated from our previous partners and headed back out into the social world. There were quite a few excursions we made together which were, looking back on them, pretty entertaining, although, I think at the time we were a little puzzled as to where we had landed ourselves.
We ended up on one occasion on a double date in a restaurant in Paddington, particularly memorable because seated at an adjoining table was the notorious detective Roger Rogerson with a grim crowd of his associates.
I too attended an AJC function or two in the second half of 1991, but I can't claim credit for having introduced Geoff to Skye. They married in October 1993. George was born in 1998 with Kate to follow in 2000 and Henry in 2011. When children arrive life gets serious and none could have taken it more seriously than Geoff.
My secretary was always bemused by my emails from Geoff, commencing with the greeting, Dear Comrade, (HHHS inside joke)
Well Comrade, farewell. We will always be thinking of you.
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