Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990                   TAG: 9006130595
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RETIRING JANITOR TOLD HE'S SPECIAL

It was the day they had to say goodbye to George Harrison, who is retiring after 28 years' employment with the city school system. For the past decade, he's been the building manager at Raleigh Court Elementary.

Harrison . . . wait a minute. Let's call him "George." Everybody else does - even the kids.

"He won't let them call him `Mr. Harrison,' " the school's principal, Clark Vandergrift, said.

He has also picked up the nickname "Frogman" because, when the kids are feeling blue, he cheers them up with a croak.

"He's been a good friend to the kids," Vandergrift said. "And the parents love him, too."

They sure do. Kathryn Glassbrenner, president of the school's PTA, said George is "a wonderful guy . . . He's like a father figure to them."

One minute, she said, you'll spot him trying to shush a noisy crowd in the cafeteria. "Then you look again and he's got his arm around a kid talking to him about personal things."

George also coaches sandlot sports. "We're 6-0 so far this year," he said of his tee-ball team. "We'll win the championship!"

George was hired as a school custodian after working at Dan River Mills in Danville and as the headwaiter at a golf club. "I've really enjoyed it," he said. "I just like being around children."

The school's 368 pupils gathered in the gym this morning to wish him good luck. It was supposed to be a surprise. But it's hard to slip anything past George. "I've been working here quite awhile. I knew something was going on. I just went along with 'em."

Relaxing in a rocking chair, George grinned and clapped as the pupils sang songs and told why he was so special to them. "When we're in the cafeteria eating lunch, he always says, `Roll 'em,' " fourth-grader Chad Hyatt said. "And he tries to get you out of the cafeteria on time - or early! . . . Every time my class hears a frog, we will think of Mr. Harrison."

George.

The kids gave him a money tree decorated with ribbons, bows and more than $200.

They gave him handshakes, hugs and school photographs glued to construction-paper stars.

And when it was over, George rounded up a few of the older kids to help him put the chairs back in order.

He has no big plans for retirement. "I'll just stay home and baby-sit my grandchildren," he said.

"This isn't a building manager retiring," Glassbrenner said, taking another Polaroid photograph. "This is a school institution."

Today also was the last day of school in Roanoke County and in the New River Valley. Salem schools let out last week.