Dan Kohler checked one final time Friday to make sure the classroom doors at Highland Elementary School were locked. On Monday he opens the door to retirement, and will stay home after 31 years serving the Tonawanda City School District.

Kohler has seen the school go through some changes over the years, but what didn’t change were his habits; sticking to a routine that helped him keep pace with the building’s needs.

He was honored Tuesday by the Board of Education, and one board member recalled a group of superintendents touring the school and commenting on how clean Highland was. Kohler’s secret was his routine.

“Dusting the halls. If you do it on Monday but one Monday you’re off, leave it go,” Kohler said. “Do it the next Monday. Apply that approach to everything else you’re doing. You’ll never fall behind.”

A retirement party after school on Thursday was held in the cafeteria. Dozens of well-wishers were on hand, including several teachers.

Claudia Panaro, principal at Highland Elementary, recalls meeting Kohler for the first time. He entered her office to request a day off, and she joked about his wanting a day off so early in the school year.

“He looked at me and said, ‘I’ve been here 30 years, probably longer than you’ve been alive,’” Panaro recalled. “I said, ‘Well, not quite.’”

Panaro also remembers getting locked out of her office a few times when she first started at Highland. She would sometimes take a break from work and leave the building. Kohler would assume she had left for the day.

“I like to make sure the rooms are locked so I can forget about them,” Kohler said. “But I’d still double-check.”

For Kohler, safety wasn’t limited to locked rooms. He would always make sure Panaro and teachers were alright if they were working late, the principal said.

This was evident when one teacher came up to Kohler near the end of Friday’s party.

“I’m going to run,” she told him. “I’m not walking you home today,” she added, turning the tables on him.

The soft-spoken Kohler began his career at the high school in 1977, when he was going to night school.

“I met the custodian who knew I was on the list seeking work,” Kohler said. “He asked if I wanted the job, and I started on the second shift.”

Kohler remained at the high school from around Thanksgiving through the end of the school year. He then transferred to Highland Elementary, where he could work days.

“It was close to home, too,” He quipped.

That was a homecoming of sorts for Kohler, who attended Highland in kindergarten and first grade back in the 1950s until transferring to St. Francis of Assisi school.

Kohler remembers the school taught kindergarten and first grade, and later changed to fourth through sixth grades. Now it’s a K-5 school.

The cafeteria where the retirement party was held is located in an addition built in the 1950s; the original building dates to the 1930s. Kohler remembers when the cafeteria space was occupied by two kindergarten rooms.

“Before the elevator was installed, you had to go upstairs to get to the basement,” Kohler added, a quirk created with the 1950s addition.

Longevity in public service careers appears to run in the household. Kohler’s wife Joan retired in September from the city treasurer’s office after 41 years, the longest tenure in city history.

“I’m going to get used to it,” Joan said about her husband’s retirement. “He’s handy around the house and will help me around.”

The two met on their last day of high school in 1964, in the book store.

“Her glasses caught my eye,” Kohler said.

However, a relationship was not on his mind at that time. Kohler was preparing to join the Brothers of St. Pius X in DeSoto, Wis., on the banks of the Mississippi River, where he could see the spotlights of the barges shining on the bluffs of the riverbanks.

Dan and Joan corresponded during the three years he remained in Wisconsin, but they weren’t a couple when he returned to Tonawanda in 1967.

They were paired up in a square dance because they were the only unmarried people in attendance. Dan and Joan married in 1970, and their daughter Christine gave them two grandchildren, Cory and Alyssa.

What will he do on his first day of retirement?

“I’ll probably watch the snow come down and say ‘forget about it,’ ” Kohler said. “That’ll be a good feeling.”

Contact Night City Editor John J. Hopkins at 693-1000, ext. 150.