Queue - Early years

Aside from my family, the most important part of my life for the last 40 years has been Queue. In fact, many of the employees have BECOME family. (And of course Queue WAS family -Vicki and I working together for 40 years; my mother, sister and son each working there as well.)

BACKGROUND

In the late 70's I was working as a lawyer for the Southern New England Telephone Co. in New Haven. The computer department came to the legal department and asked for our help. I volunteered, but told them I couldn't help them much because I knew nothing about computers.They gave me a crash course in hardware. I even leaned to program (COBOL). 

At the same time the first personal computers were appearing on the market. I became fascinated.my first computer was a TRS-80 with a16k audiocassette memory. 

I'd always been an entrepreneur at heart (See Early Businesses). I thought personal computers offered a fantastic opportunity. I wanted a business where the technology wouldn't change every 6 months-I wasn't a tech head-and hit on educational computing. I had been a classroom teacher for 2 years (see Teaching).

At the time there were very few educational publishers. I visited a few of them, invested a little bit in one, and talked to them all. It turned out that they had no way of marketing their products. So, in January 1980, I put together 

the first catalogue of educational software ever published..

Working on the train, nights and weekends I (with lots of help from Vicki) went about buying lists and mailing the catalogues out. There was very little interest yet in purchasing software, but tremendous interest in learning more about it I decided to harness that interest my creating and selling a newsletter, 

Microcomputers in Education , which also served as a bi-monthly catalogue supplement.

Once I came to Queue full-time I wanted to publish our own line of software, not just distribute others':

 

Our first real employee was Anna Daniolos (later Christopoulos), who began working with my father and mother in my father's law office as a 16 year old high school student recommended by her teacher,my mother's friend, Rose Friedman.  She is still working with me at Queue almost 50 years later.

Peter Uhrynowski was our second employee. We've been friends for 70 years (see Marne Avenue friends and neighbors.) He has been working with me at Queue for 40 years.

Steve Perrett was another early employee.  He also is still working with me at Queue after 40 years.

Other early employees were Helen Taylor and Sharon Austin, each of whom who began working while at UB, Jean Lowery, Venetia Ozzi, Joe Razzaia and Tammy Tragakiss.

We all got together for reunions in

2018 (w/o Jean Lowery)

and 2019 (w/o Sharon and Tammy).

2020

Another early employees was our first programmer, Sterling Durgy, shown here with me on one of our many Queue Long Island Sound cruises. See Queue Long Island Sound Cruises.

We also had Xmas parties, picnics, soccer (and played in a co-ed indoor soccer league), softball, touch football, and basketball games (on our own basketball court), competed in spelling bees, a bowling league (won the championship), tennis tournaments and played in a co-ed indoor soccer league. See Queue Christmas Parties and Queue Picnics and Sports.

The highlight of every year was a Planning Meeting trip to an exotic location-see Queue Trips. Queue friends also joined us at many family celebrations. See Queue at Family parties.

Carrying on the family theme, among our earliest employees were the Bensey sisters, Jane and Anne, later joined by a third sister and a cousin. Tammy Tragakiss' sister Michelle also worked for Queue. Many employees' kids worked here as well.

By 1984 we were not only acting as dealers for many other lines, our selling lots of own software, as well.

1996 training video