By the numbers

Being 96 years old means people expect you to count things. Years lived in town; miles traveled in the war.

It means if you renew your driver’s license it’s good until 102.

And if you work out at the local gym almost five days per week, always clocking in between 8:48 and 8:51 a.m., you get called by distinguished nicknames, like “man of the hour.”

Mr. James “Ed” Furr knows all about it.

“He’s as regular as rain. ... No, we haven’t had a lot of rain lately,” said YMCA Executive Director Jeff Fife, chatting about Furr’s attendance. “He’s more regular than rain.”

The off-and-on 75-year Waynesboro resident (he counted) traveled 88,000 miles (he counted) on the Pacific Ocean while surviving World War II and the Korean War. Despite deployments, he’s been in the same house on Market Street since 1945.

“She wrote me a letter and said, ‘I bought a house,’ ” Furr said of his late wife. “It was $5,400 and a case of paint.”

Furr still cooks there and grows tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

He says he’s loving life. He says he can remember when the library was built. He says he’s happy to have come back alive from both wars. And he says Gitmo, Cuba, has the best golf course he’s seen in the world.

Furr spent decades as a caddy and a golfer, including during wartime, but his commitment to staying fit has actually grown in the last 10 years — the time he’s been enrolled with the YMCA.

“They don’t have the motivation, but he’s motivated,” trainer Tina Ruszala said of “most people” and Furr.

Ruszala designed a program of treadmill cardiovascular work and light weightlifting for Furr.

“It keeps me active,” he said.

Which matters for him without golf. Furr called the Cuba golf course the best, but said an all-sand course in Saudi Arabia and a course in Spain rank high as well.

“I just like golf,” he said.

But working out has become “like eating breakfast.”

“I just can’t feel that I’m that old,” he said.

He’s got a good attitude and tons of dedication, which rubs off on friends at the Y. It’s the same dedication he brought to work. Furr said he never missed a day of work as a Crozet machinist. Not come rain, wind, ice or snow.

“I feel good. I eat good. I sleep good,” Furr said. “I’m gonna knock a hundred off and quit.”