Individual Details

HILLSBORO — Jim Webster believes that among the many reasons the late Dr. Jack Furr was so admired and respected by residents of Hillsboro and the surrounding area were his dedication and compassion. “The hours he put in showed that he really cared about the small community,’’ Webster said. “It seemed like he worked almost 24 hours a day; he was in his office something like 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. just about every day.’’ Webster, a rural Wallace resident, was a friend and patient of Furr’s for about 30 years. “You might say he was like our emergency room,’’ Webster said. “I came to him once with a cut finger that he sewed up for me. With something like that, a lot of doctors would send you to the emergency room.” That dedication and compassion also led a wide-ranging group of medical professionals to join forces in providing a device intended to save lives and honor the beloved small town physician who died of cancer in March at age 72. The physicians of The Care Group LLC have presented Furr’s son, Dr. Joseph Furr, with an automated external defibrillator engraved with a plaque that reads “In memory of Dr. Jack Furr.” The AED will be kept in Furr’s office and used to treat a patient whose heart has stopped. Dr. James Trippi, who made the presentation on behalf of his colleagues, said the idea came about from a conversation he had with the younger Furr who was taking over his father’s practice. “Joe and I met and I asked him ‘Is there anything we can do to help you get started?’ and Joe had a really good idea,’’ Trippi said. When Trippi and the others first sought to grant Furr’s request for an AED, they hit a snag. “The administration said ‘You can’t do it,’ ” Trippi said. “They said specialty groups can’t give something to primary care physicians because it looks like fraud. So we let it go dormant for awhile.’’ After Furr’s passing in March, Trippi revisited the idea. “I said ‘There’s got to be a way for Joe to get the AED and to honor Dr. Jack at the same time because it’s just the right thing to do.” “So we decided to pass the hat. It was a really big hat,’’ Trippi said. An e-mail was sent to everyone in the care group and 15 different doctors agreed to contribute, he said. It didn’t stop there. “When word got around, all the nurses and secretaries started kicking in $5 and $10.” Trippi said the group hadn’t quite reached what the device cost but the company providing it, Medtronic of Redmond, Wash., nonetheless said “We’ll get it to you at what you’ve raised.’’ Trippi said the AED “does everything for you.’’ “It talks to you and tells you exactly what to do every step of the way,”’ he said. “Dad did do a lot for the community and this is a fantastic gesture, although I hope we’ll never ever have to use (the AED)’’ Joseph Furr said. “Despite my degree, I like the fact that they’re foolproof,’’ he said. His mother Thelma said there had been incidents in the past where the office could have used such a device and she, too, appreciated the gesture on her husband’s behalf. Jack Furr had been in practice for 46 years, 33 of those in Hillsboro. A Fountain County native, he graduated from Veedersburg High School in 1951 and Indiana University Medical School in 1959. He practiced in Kingman until 1970, then spent a year in northern Monterey, Ind., before moving to Hillsboro in 1972. Furr once said his calling was to come back to Fountain County and take care of his own people. In 1996, the Hillsboro Booster Club rewarded Furr’s service by naming him the town’s first ever Citizen of the Year. That same year, he received an Associate of Theology Degree from the Midwest Baptist College in Danville, Ill. Joseph Furr began working with his father in January 2005 and graduated from his residency in June 2005. He then spent six months away from the practice before returning — a break his mother says later proved invaluable when, by necessity, “the whole thing was dumped in his lap.’’ Even after being diagnosed late last fall, Jack Furr’s dedication remained: as soon as he was able, he did return to work for a few weeks. Joseph Furr said he’s been grateful for the support of Trippi and his colleagues. “I was talking to him once and he said ‘Call me anytime,’ Furr said. “As a doctor, you learn to sometimes listen ‘between the lines’, so to speak, and I could tell he really meant it.’’ Trippi said he’s glad that he and his colleagues were finally able to accomplish their mission with the AED. “It’s like, at least in a small way, Dr. Jack will still be here, watching over everybody,’’ he said.

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Birth	July 16, 1933	Veedersburg, Fountain County, IN
Occupation	1950	paperboy - Veedersburg, Fountain County, IN
Marriage	1959	Living
Marriage	March, 1962	Living
Marriage	June 23, 1971	Derry, Rockingham County, NH - Living
Death	March 16, 2006	Indianapolis, Marion County, IN
Divorce		Living
Divorce		Living
Burial		Rockfield Cemetery, Veedersburg, Fountain County, IN

Spouse	Living
Child	David Lee FURR (1959 - 1977)
Child	Byron Dean FURR (1961 - 1977)

Spouse	Living
Child	Living
Child	Living
Child	Paul Wayne FURR (1967 - 2003)
Child	Living

Spouse	Living
Child	Living
Child	Living
Child	Living
Child	Living
Child	Living
Child	Living
Child	Living

Father	Freeman Glen FURR (1889 - 1978)
Mother	Nora Edna McCracken CLICKNER (1892 - 1976)
Sibling	Mont Byron FURR (1915 - 1991)
Sibling	J. William FURR (1918 - 1919)
Sibling	Naomi Ruth FURR (1920 - 2014)
Sibling	Arnet Lee "AL" FURR (1924 - 1944)
Sibling	Living

Notes