Waldo McBurney walks down Main Street in this Sept. 20, 2007, file photo in Quinter. McBurney, designated as America’s oldest worker, died Wednesday. He was 106.

Quinter ? Waldo McBurney, who was designated as America’s oldest worker and gained fame in his later years as a competitive runner and beekeeper, has died. He was 106.

McBurney, whose life spanned an age of horse-drawn buggies to computers, died Wednesday at the Gove County Medical Center in his hometown, The Hays Daily News reported Friday.

In 2006 he was named America’s oldest worker by the Washington-based Experience Works, which provides training and employment for senior citizens. Appearances on various television shows followed.

At age 104 he was still spry and agile, walking most days the few blocks from his home to his downtown office in this High Plains farming community.

McBurney once said he had never known a life without work. As a child, he had his share of chores on the family farm south of here and got his first paying job at 13 guiding the lead team of horses pulling a wheat thrasher. For that, he got 50 cents a day.

“I’m not a strong believer in retirement. I don’t think retirement is in the Bible,” he told The Associated Press in 2006.

After graduating from college in 1927, he worked in various jobs: teacher, county extension agent, tax preparation, manager of the local co-op. He started a seed-cleaning business in the 1950s and ran it until he was 91. But even then he wasn’t through working.

McBurney took his decades-old hobby of beekeeping and turned it into a business of selling honey, which he sold last year after saying he was slowing down.

He grew up at a time when neighbors helped neighbors without asking, when life was more about work than worry.

“I expect people worry now more than then. Worry is a killer. Back then, you did your chores, lit the kerosene lamp and read,” he recalled in 2006.

But his life wasn’t all about work. He enjoyed running since childhood and at 65 took up long distance running. A decade later he began competing in the Senior Olympics, the World Masters and other events, winning 10 gold medals for track and field events.

He stopped competing in 2004 and wrote his autobiography, “My First 100 Years: A Look Back from the Finish Line.”

In his book with a cover photo of him jogging, McBurney attributed his longevity to genes, exercise, food, mental attitude and faith.

With age came notoriety, something he never sought. Aside from his Oldest Worker award, then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in 2006 awarded him the state Hometown Hero Award, calling him “truly a gift to our state and inspiration to lead a healthy life.”

Services will be Tuesday morning in Quinter. He is survived by his wife, Vernice\, and five adult children.