{"id":57757,"date":"2013-08-20T01:41:52","date_gmt":"2013-08-20T07:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/for-mr-dan-the-first-day-of-school-one-last-time\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T16:04:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T16:04:39","slug":"for-mr-dan-the-first-day-of-school-one-last-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/for-mr-dan-the-first-day-of-school-one-last-time\/","title":{"rendered":"For \u2018Mr. Dan,\u2019 the first day of school, one last time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dan
Dan Imel is retiring after 31 years working in maintenance for Re-1 school district.<\/span>Sam Green\/Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot from this job, even from the kids and the teachers,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a good job. I\u2019ve really liked it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Affectionately referred to by students and teachers as Mr. Dan, Imel said he is going to miss coming to school every day when he retires as the schoolhouse custodian on Oct. 31, just a few weeks after celebrating his 66th birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a good experience,\u201d he said last week as he was making last-minute preparations for the first day of school. \u201cIt keeps you really honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout his 31-year career, Imel said he has encountered many untidy issues, some which made him think, \u201cBoy, I\u2019ve never done this before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of things I\u2019ve had to clean up over the years, and at times I didn\u2019t want to,\u201d he admitted. \u201cIt\u2019s beyond your imagination some of the things you encounter with this job, but it didn\u2019t really bother me too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imel was publicly recognized for his faithful service to the school district at a \u201cBack to School Celebration\u201d last week. Superintendent Alex Carter described him as a quiet but incredible man who has touched the lives of so many in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople tell me all the time that Mr. Dan was their favorite teacher, and he\u2019s a custodian,\u201d Carter said. \u201cThat\u2019s powerful, and exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the building was constructed in the 1950s, Kemper Elementary\u2019s floors are so clean that someone could eat off them, Carter said in reflecting on Imel\u2019s dedication.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t thank him as much as we should,\u201d he added. \u201cBut he\u2019s the kind of man that doesn\u2019t do it for the recognition. He does it for those kids. He\u2019s really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

The excitement of returning to school, felt mainly by students and teachers, has also rubbed off on Imel over the years, saying it helps to keep him young. And if he had the chance to enter a classroom to give students a lesson, Imel said he would simply instruct his class to be honest, do your best and if you need help, don\u2019t be afraid to ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids, they look up to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI really appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of every school year, Imel said he especially treasures the handwritten notes from students expressing their gratitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to miss them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the sadness of leaving, Imel looks forward to starting a new chapter in his life. He and his wife, Mary, who have been married 32 years, are planning to travel and do things one normally doesn\u2019t do on workdays, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to finish the projects that I got started and never finished,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Imel went to work as a custodian at Kemper Elementary in June 1982.<\/p>\n

Congratulations, Mr. Dan.<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imel is retiring after 31 years working in maintenance for Re-1 school district.Sam Green\/Cortez Journal \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot from this job, even from the kids and the teachers,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a good job. I\u2019ve really liked it.\u201d Affectionately referred to by students and teachers as Mr. Dan, Imel said he is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4343,216,2760],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-57757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-elementary-schools","tag-montezuma-cortez-school-district-re-1","tag-retirement"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57757"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62870,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57757\/revisions\/62870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57757"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=57757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}