By John Estridge
When Roger McQueen was in the first grade, his elementary school, Richland Township Elementary School, was just off Indiana 244, and he had a window seat.
Instead of taking instruction during that first year of school, Roger spent his days looking out the window, not daydreaming, but watching for his dad, Everett “Junior” McQueen, to drive past the school in his propane truck. It was not so much just watching for his father, but yearning to be back in the truck. His dad started taking Roger in the truck with him when Roger was but six months old.
Roger recently celebrated his 46th anniversary as a propane truck driver.
Unfortunately, one of Junior’s children, an older brother to Roger, died when the child was but 18 months old. Junior had not spent much time with the child before his death. Thus, Junior had decided he would spend time with Roger. So, Junior would often grab the baby, a diaper bag and some bottles and head out on his route to service his customers.
At the time, Junior was delivering 100-pound cylinders, Roger said.
As he grew, Roger did not just ride along, but he actively helped out, beginning at the age of 6.
“My first experience with helping him out was with Joe and Gertrude Smith on old (US) 52,” Roger said. “Dad sold them a room space heater, and we had to run a (gas) line to it. The old house sat in the ground foundation. There was only about 12 inches of room to get under there. Me, being the littlest one of all, he sent me underneath the house. I remember there was a little blanket of snow outside. That was my first experience under a house. It was snug down there.”
Roger ran a gas line under the house. When he got to the hole in the floor made for the gas line, he lifted it through the hole, he said. The gas lines came in 50-foot rolls.
“We hooked it up,” Roger said. “And (Junior) hooked it up to the flue, hooked up the gas, and they were in business. As I grew up, I began helping dad with odd little things like painting cylinder tanks out on the dock, (and) fill 100-pound cylinders. He’d get a new driver, (and) I would go with him to show where to go to deliver the gas. As time went on when I got my driver’s license, I’d come home (from high school) on nights and weekends, and drive for dad.”
Roger said he made his first delivery driving a propane truck solo at 16 while he was still a student at North Decatur Junior/Senior High School.
“He (Junior) said ‘I need you to take some gas over to Shelbyville to a farmer named Russell Kuhn,’” Roger said. “So, I said ‘OK,’ jump in the truck and head to Shelbyville going up (Indiana) 244.”
Sitting at the point or the triangle in Andersonville where Ind. 244 branches off from US 52 was then-Indiana State Trooper Phil Wietholter. Wietholter later became the head of the ISP detectives at the Connersville Post and then Brookville Police Department Chief.
“He flagged me over,” Roger said. “He was checking drivers’ licenses and registrations. I pulled over and he asked me for the items. I got my license July 31 and it was October. He said ‘where’s your chauffeur’s license, son?’ I said ‘I ain’t got them. I ain’t old enough.’
“He said ‘aren’t you hired to drive this truck?’ Roger continued. “I said ‘no sir. I got drafted.’”
Wietholter asked Roger to explain what he meant by being drafted into driving a propane truck.
“I told him ‘when dad tells you to do something, by God, you better do it,’” Roger said. “Phil let me go. That was my first solo trip, so to speak.”
So off Roger went on the narrow, hilly, curvy Ind. 244, making his first trip alone in a big propane truck at the age of 16. Roger said he was not afraid to drive it.
Junior also took Roger on trips to pick up trucks Junior purchased for hauling the big propane tanks. Sometimes, Roger missed school just to go on those trips.
“Me, dad and his friend went to St. Meinard (down by Jasper and Santa Claus Indiana) and bought the truck, and drove it home.” Roger said. “We went down on Sunday and couldn’t get a hold of the people to look at it. We spent the night, and I played hooky the next day. He bought the truck, and I drove it home.”
Junior started the business, Apex, after coming home from World War II. He served with the 95th Division in Europe and was part of some of the worst fighting in the European theater. This included the fighting at the heavily defended German city of Metz and then at the Battle of the Bulge.
After the war, Junior and his brothers opened a store in Clarksburg. They sold ranges, among other things, and Roger decided it would be a good business move to supply those ranges with propane.
“He bought cylinders from Arrow Gas in Rushville in 1948,” Roger said about the beginning of Apex. “He ran that business from 1948 to March of 2000, 52 years.”
After Junior passed in March 2000, others ran Apex for a few years and then the company was purchased by Premier Energy, and that company kept Roger on in his capacity as a driver.
He has always gotten along well with those in supervisory positions at Premier. Roger has a large territory to cover from his home on the west side of Franklin County. His area stretches from Dearborn County on the south to Union County on the north and over to Shelby County on the west. It includes Fayette, Franklin, Ripley, Decatur and Rush counties also.
A typical day for Roger is to receive his orders the night before by email. At 6:30 a.m., he picks up his truck at Lakeview. He daily inspects his 2018 automatic Freightliner single axle, which carries a 3,499-gallon tank, prior to heading out. He starts the engine and then lets it warm before heading out on that day’s deliveries.
The company divides his orders by automatic fills – those on a schedule – and call-ins, meaning they need the gas to keep from running out. He goes to those first. But he tries to schedule his deliveries by going to the ones farther out first and then ends his day closer to home so he doesn’t have that far to drive to get home.
While things now operate with emails, iPads and the use of GPS, Roger also carries a wire-bound writing tablet, where he records the amount of gallons before the fill and the amount of gallons after the fill among other notations. He has done that since he first started. If there is a question concerning a delivery, he asks for a specific day, goes to his writing tablet and is able to tell all the pertinent facts about the fill. It has come in handy more than once, he said.
He drives around 125-150 miles on an average day. In 46 years, he has not had an accident. He said he is a careful driver. In the winter, his supervisor told Roger he has the experience so it is always Roger’s call if the roads are too bad for deliveries that day.
The truck before this one was a 2004 Freightliner with a six-speed transmission. He flew to Kansas City to pick it up when it was new, and he drove it home. He put 275,000 miles on it, and he still misses his six-speed transmission. He said that is because in winter, he felt safer with the six speed than he does with the automatic.
From September 1, 2019 to August 31, 2020, Roger delivered more than 500,000 gallons of propane.
Of course, winter is his busiest time with the propane. He does have summer fills, but during the summer months, he helps out by hauling agriculture-related product for Premier’s agriculture division.
After all this time, he is not tired of his job or bored with it. Instead, he said he enjoys setting out every day.
“I like going out and meeting the people,” Roger said. “You meet a different customer every day. When you’re driving nine, 10, (or) 11 hours a day, you meet a lot of people. You talk to a lot of people. They know you, and they know a stranger’s not coming to their house. I’ve always made it a purpose to have a good bond with the customers. A lot of them are going to hate it when I decide to retire.”
Through his years, he is now delivering to the fifth generation in five different families, Roger said. And he knows all of the members of those families by both first and last names.
Junior drove for 52 years. Roger’s goal is to drive for 53. He will be 69 then, but even then, he may not retire.
“I’ve enjoyed it,” Roger said. “Out there it’s me and the truck, and I’m not cooped up in a factory. I go at my own pace and get my job done. I really enjoy it.”