For the past 54 years, Dr Robert Grossman has found himself at The Pleasance on Labor Day, joining fellow Rotary Club of Newtown members to sell hot dogs and soda to the crowds of people lining nearby streets for the town's annual parade.

This year, however, Dr Grossman (or "Dr Bob," as generations of friends, family, residents, and others have been calling him for years) will not be found at the property at 1 Main Street. Instead, he will be riding in a 1929 Ford convertible, leading the 55th Annual Newtown Labor Day Parade. The parade committee selected Dr Grossman in May to be this year's grand marshal.

He will be joined by Jacob and Emma, two of his four great-grandchildren, in leading the town's biggest annual celebration.

Newtown's 55th Labor Day Parade will step off at 10 am, Monday, September 5. In following with the traditional gift for a 55th anniversary, residents and organizations planning to participate in this year's parade have been challenged to create a moving celebration of all things emerald thanks to the theme "There's No Place Like Home."

The grand marshal was delighted to be given the honorary title.

"I'm looking forward to Labor Day, and being grand marshal," he said August 15. "I feel it's really a nice honor, and that I'm being recognized for the things I've done for Newtown."

Seated in one of the meeting rooms at Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Association's headquarters, Dr Grossman appeared very happy to be in a building he pushed hard for.

The town's all-volunteer ambulance corps had outgrown its former headquarters on Main Street - a building it had occupied since 1972 - and so after fundraising efforts and multiple approvals, ground was broken in 2013 for a larger headquarters that not only provides space for the town's volunteer EMTs and their equipment, but also space for community education and integration with other Newtown-based health and wellness organizations.

The new building at 6 Washington Square was officially opened in 2014. Dr Grossman still walks around in awe, and smiles broadly when he is in the structure. Walking around the first floor on Monday, he was

greeted with waves and smiles by the EMTs and on-call paramedic in the building at that time.

"I was here every day that construction was going on," Dr Grossman said. "I watched everything."

A Busy Life

Dr Grossman has been very well known as a physician in Newtown, as well as throughout the region, because of his tireless service at Danbury Hospital. He moved to Newtown in 1959, relocating from Long Island, where he had done his residency. After speaking with Dr Benton Egee, who practiced medicine in Newtown for more than 30 years during the 20th Century, Dr Grossman was able to determine what the next step in his own career would be.

"I was looking for a place to practice surgery," Dr Grossman said. "Dr Egee was very helpful to me. He helped me set up an office here in town, and he sent me patients.

"I did minor surgery there, and major surgery at Danbury Hospital," he pointed out.

He was the primary surgeon at Fairfield Hills State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital that operated across a sprawling campus within Newtown from 1931 until 1995.

"I used to go to Fairfield Hills once or twice a week and see patients, and either operate on them at Fairfield Hills, or if they needed extensive care, then we would bring them to Danbury Hospital," he said. He also saw patients weekly at the federal correctional institution in Danbury, he said.

Dr Grossman has also been on the Danbury Hospital Board of Trustees.

He has, at various times, been the chief of the Department of Surgery and the president of the medical staff of the hospital. He started the hospital's surgical residency program, and has been the state medical examiner, among other career highlights.

Dr Grossman did surgery for 43 years, retiring in 2005. He worked in the state's Medical Examiner's Office for half a century, retiring just last year from that post.

Dr Grossman was instrumental in constructing the first medical office building in town, and has long been associated with Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps. He has been president of Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Association for ten years. He is also currently chairman of the board of the Newtown Health District.

He enjoys working with local agencies and organizations that serve the community, including Newtown VNA, Masonicare, and Maplewood at Newtown.

"I think the type of work that's done in the medical field is so important," he said, when asked why his life had been so devoted to medical care. "Getting good responses, and rapid care, is imperative. Delays can lead to serious injury and even death.

"Getting treatment within an hour means the best chance of bringing people back," he said.

Dr Grossman was a first lieutenant in the US Army for two years. He was in Germany during the Korean War, based part of the time within an artillery battalion and part of the time with a medical detachment.

"There, too, you can see where rapid response was important," he said.

In addition, he has been a member of Rotary Club of Newtown for more than 50 years, and a member of Newtown Men's Club for more than 40 years.

"I've been involved in a lot of things," he said, laughing.

Dr Grossman, who will turn 88 on September 11, may have given up skiing in recent years ("I did that until well into my 80s," he pointed out), but gardening continues to offer enjoyment.

"I have a big garden every year," he said, naming everything from lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers to squash, strawberries, and flowers among the regular crops he cultivates.

"I added artichokes two years ago," he noted.

A Hometown Hero

Beth Caldwell said she and the Parade Committee "are really excited about honoring Dr Bob as grand marshal" when the group announced its decision earlier this year.

"He had a long service as a surgeon locally, and he's been a coroner, and has had a long relationship with the ambulance corps," the president of the Parade Committee told The Newtown Bee in May. "He has also been to every parade."

"I think Dr Bob is one of our hometown heroes," she said August 18. "He just is someone to me who represents the heart of Newtown. He gives of his time and efforts on a volunteer basis, and he has had an amazing career as a physician throughout the years.

"He is just one of those people who has given of himself his whole life," she said.

Dr Grossman calls the parade a "tremendous" representation of his hometown.

"I love the kids from the high school," he said. "They always do a great job. I love the community organizations, the fire departments, the ambulance, and the police," he continued, "and the organizations that provide so many activities. The orchestras and bands are also great.

"And of course, one cannot leave out the little cars," he said.

Newtown's Labor Day Parade follows a route that begins from the corner of Main Street at Currituck Road. Participants travel south along Main Street, then turn left and travel east across Glover Avenue; then bear left onto Queen Street, where they pass the middle school and then the judges' stand, before reaching the end of the parade route at the intersection of Queen Street and Church Hill Road.