Fun Along The Way: A Memoir of the Vanishing American Middle Class

The Great American Middle Class is a vanishing species. During the decades following the Great Depression and the Second World War, Americans enjoyed a lifestyle unprecedented in American History. Fun Along the Way chronicles one family's lives, fortunes, fate, travels, and adventures. Relive the magic of the 30s through the 70s with the tales of the Grosser family as they leave the Midwest, with children in the backseat of a '47 Plymouth, and head for the promise of work and a good life in California. Enjoy the many vignettes that illustrate this period in American history:* The Girls from the County Farm* The Boy Scouts Era* Civilian Conservation Corps* The County Fairs* The Theater Fountainette* San Gabriel Valley Living* The Fraternal Order of EaglesJAMES GROSSER grew up in Iowa when radio and railroad were kings. If you were smart, you bought a whole cow at the county fair and sent it to the butcher on Main Street. The Fountainette had real bar stools and served real cream sodas. Like a lot of Midwesterners, James comes from hard-working German stock-his maternal grandfather immigrated at age 12 to avoid the draft in the First World War. James' father ran the local grocery, hired a hobo who hopped off the train, and did business the old fashioned way-with hard work and family.Born in 1928 in Cresco, Iowa, James lived the life between the pages of Fun Along the Way. You may relive this time as you read his memoir, or perhaps you will learn more about your parents or grandparents and how they lived during this magical time in American history. James Grosser is semi-retired at age 85 in Azusa, California. He still lives with the love of his life, Rose Marie, whom you will meet in Fun Along the Way. The kids are grown and gone, and James and Rose Marie are living the good life. They still enjoy their friends at the Fraternal Order of the Eagle and enjoy helping to provide funding for the charities of the organization. Take a walk through a Midwestern county fair and experience the technical boom in California with James as your guide.