NEW ENGLAND "COCONUTS" COLOR COMPUTER CLUB
In 1982, Bob Sullivan founded the New England "CoConuts" Color Computer Club after connecting with Andy Nulman, the late Jim Yakey and Bill Ferrante on the COCO SIG on CompuServe. COCO SIG was the sole online community for hobbyists using the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer. Bob wanted to learn more about the "CoCo", as the Color Computer was dubbed, but he learned more about people and how they interact with technology and that has served him well ever since. Over the club's 9 year history, Bob served the club in various roles including president, vice president, newsletter editor and secretary.
In its first few years, the club met at the Warwick Public Library. Club meetings were lively events with discussions continuing in the parking lot after the library closed for the evening. The club sought a new home after the library forced meetings to end earlier. We tried the community room of the nearby Stop & Shop supermarket and the basement of the Warwick Central Baptist Church in Apponaug, but neither worked out. Fortunately, club member Louis Alarie got us into the Johnston Senior Center. This location proved quite popular with the membership and our meetings no longer had a fixed ending time there.
When the club voted to disband on February 21, 1991 we showed our appreciation by donating the treasury balance (all $92.21 of it!) to the Johnston Senior Center.
Bob kept the club's newsletters along with memories of good times that were shared. Many thanks to all who participated in the club over the years. As Mr. Alarie wrote Bob at the end "It was a good show while it lasted."
| December 1982 (1 pg) | February 1983 (4 pg) | April 1983 (7 pg) |
| July 1983 (7 pg) | November 1983 (8 pg) | January 1984 (8 pg) |
| March 1984 (10 pg) | May 1984 (10 pg) | June 1984 (2 pg) |
| July 1984 (8 pg) | September 1984 (18 pg) | November 1984 (10 pg) |
| January 1985 (16 pg) | March 1985 (13 pg) | May 1985 (11 pg) |
| July 1985 (12 pg) | September 1985 (20 pg) | November 1985 (13 pg) |
| January 1986 (14 pg) | March 1986 (14 pg) | May 1986 (8 pg) |
| August 1986 (7 pg) | November 1986 (8 pg) | January 1987 (6 pg) |
| June 1987 (1 pg) | July 1987 (1 pg) | December 1987 (1 pg) |
| January 1988 (2 pg) | February 1988 (2 pg) | March 1988 (9 pg) |
| April 1988 (1 pg) | May 1988 (2 pg) | June 1988 (6 pg) |
| July 1988 (1 pg) | August 1988 (1 pg) | September 1988 (1 pg> |
| October 1988 (2 pg) |
| Dec 1988 (1 pg) | Jan 1989 (1 pg) | Feb 1989 (3 pg) | June 1989 (1 pg) |
| June 1989 (ballot) | July 1989 (1 pg) | Sept 1989 (1 pg) | Nov 1989 (1 pg) |
Bob has reconnected to Andy Nulman, Chris Arthur (MacGregor), David Bailey and Cole Calistra on LinkedIN and reached out to Mike Lill and Al Spater there, too.
Bob has shared the scanned newsletters with club members, but he is not posting them online since they are loaded with home addresses and phone numbers.
Bob also has a few issues of newsletters from other CoCo clubs, which are unscanned:
| December 1987 (8 pg) | February 1989 (12 pg) | March 1989 (8 pg) |
| April 1989 (9 pg) |
| August 1986 (6 pg) | September 1986 (7 pg) | February 1989 (4 pg) |
| March 1989 (8 pg) | April 1989 (7 pg) | May 1989 (6 pg) |
| June 1989 (6 pg) |
| May 1987 (8 pg) | February 1988 (6 pg) | March 1989 (6 pg) |
| April 1989 (2 pg) | June 1989 (4 pg) | December 1989 (11 pg) |
| July 1986 (11 pg) |
Finally, a sad, but fond farewell to Radio Shack, mothership of the CoCo.
Radio Shack's last ditch 1980s ad from Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb 2, 2014.
Copyright (C) 2013-2023 Bob Sullivan. All rights reserved.