THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 2, 1996 TAG: 9607310210
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 84 lines
Oils, clean T-shirts, sheets and towels are requirements for a masseur. So are the jokes and advice when James ``Hurricane'' Edwards is on duty.
``Hurricane's our confidant,'' lawyer Tony Nicolo says. ``He's our psychiatrist, psychologist, medical adviser, marriage counselor, and he probably knows about more people in Portsmouth than anybody else.''
Meanwhile, Edwards just laughs and continues to slap and pound his client's body at the YMCA of Portsmouth.
``It's probably the most relaxing hour of my week,'' says Nicolo, a partner in the Portsmouth law firm of Ferrell, Backus, Sayer, Nicolo and Mobley. ``It's something I look forward to every week.''
Edwards, who lost his sight 43 years ago, has eased pains and relieved tensions at the Y for 41 years.
``I am closing out my 41st year, so it is time for me to find something else,'' says Edwards, eager to blurt out the punch line.
``Golf,'' the 64-year-old masseur says to laughter.
Still chuckling from the golf joke, he says, ``But I am thinking about joining the blind bowling team.''
In addition, Edwards goes on two fishing trips a year that the Y sponsors.
His next trip has nothing to do with sports. He officially retired from his job at the Y last Saturday and he and his wife, Iris, are on a two-week vacation in New York.
``I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with this wonderful man,'' his wife of three years said in a letter to the Y. ``If he is this excited about his work, I'm sure I will do my part in making him happy at home.''
Not so quick. Edwards goes back to work Aug. 15.
Instead of working at the Y five days a week on payroll, Edwards will go back as an independent contractor working Thursday, Friday and Saturday. His signature items in his ``Hurricane R&R Room'' - two framed newspaper articles, his certificate and a plaque he received on his last day as a full-timer - will stay posted until he leaves for good.
The additional days off will give him more time with Iris and church activities.
Edwards, who has eight stepchildren through three marriages, teaches adult Sunday school and sings in the choir at Elm Avenue Baptist Church. He also will continue to visit elderly and sick people at hospitals, nursing homes and houses.
``He's just concerned and devoted,'' Iris Edwards says.
The same way many of his customers are committed to him.
``Because of my experiences with Hurricane, whenever I go on vacation, I will try to get a massage in the places I go,'' says Nicolo. ``Then I come back and tell Hurricane I've cheated on him. . . . But I always let him know when I am going to cheat on him.''
Right now, Iris Edwards is also on a once a week rotation - Tuesdays. But unlike the customers he treats at the Y, Iris Edwards gets a private session at their Cavalier Manor home, of course.
``He's so busy,'' said Iris Edwards, who hopes to retire from her job at Boise Cascade office supplies in December. ``That's the day I get mine unless I am having difficulties.''
Edwards learned his trade at a school for the deaf and blind in Spartanburg, S.C. He returned to his home of Charleston, S.C., in 1954 with a certificate and a job offer as a masseur. Or so he thought.
``The guy discovered I was black and that was the end of that,'' he says. ``About three months later, I got this job, one in Montgomery, Ala., and one in Fort Worth, Texas, on the same day.''
His trainer from Spartanburg, Eddie Farrer, knew of the Y's director John Connel and recommended Edwards to come north.
At the time of Edwards' arrival, a hurricane hit the area - Hurricane Diane, he believes. Having made his debut during such a tumultuous time, a few of his co-workers associated him with the disaster.
``Hey, there's that damn Hurricane again,'' Y employees would yell in Edwards' presence. So like his service, the nickname became standard.
``No one knows my name is James Edwards,'' Hurricane says while taking care of Ben Powell.
``I didn't either until now,'' says Powell, a client of Edwards for two years.
Not taking lunch or a break, Edwards' hourly appointments are nonstop.
``That's not an hour clock,'' Powell says. ``That's a 20-minute clock. Where did the hour go?''
Between the jokes, advice and comfort of the soothing hands, the customers lose track of time. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
James ``Hurricane'' Edwards, who lost his sight 43 years ago, eases
a client's pain and tension at the YMCA, just as he has done for 41
years. by CNB