North Star custodian ready for retirement after 44 years with LPS

It’s shortly after 3 p.m. on Wednesday and students are streaming out of Lincoln North Star High School. As they end their school day, Dan Conn’s day is just beginning.

Conn works the 3-11 p.m. shift as a custodian at North Star. He’s worked these hours since the school opened in 2003. Prior to that, he worked as a custodian at Brownell Elementary School for 29 years.

That’s 44 years with Lincoln Public Schools - and now he’s ready for a new schedule. Conn is retiring on Friday. His new schedule will include joining a health club, going to more of the auto races he loves to watch, maybe taking a vacation to Branson.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Conn said. “I have a lot I want to do.”

Conn enjoyed the relative solitude of working mostly during the night, but walk down the North Star hallways with him during the day and you realize he’s made plenty of friends. “Hey, Dan!” “Dan! How’s it goin’?”

“I will miss people I’ve worked with,”  Conn said. “I’ve made some good friends.”

Count Ryan Zabawa among them. Zabawa took over as North Star principal this year but met Conn during a previous stint at the school as an associate principal.

“Dan has been a great member of our team at North Star. He is a team player, hard worker, extremely friendly and always helpful. He has had a truly impressive career. It won't be the same here without him.”  

Richard Humann, the North Star building supervisor, said he’ll miss Conn’s positive attitude.

“He is the kind of guy who is always upbeat. One of the things I enjoyed about Dan was if we were short-handed and I would ask him to do a little extra work, he would look up and say, ‘OK,’ with a huge smile on his face.

“His smiles will surely be missed.”


Published: August 30, 2018, Updated: August 30, 2018

"He is the kind of guy who is always upbeat. One of the things I enjoyed about Dan was if we were short-handed and I would ask him to do a little extra work, he would look up and say, 'OK,' with a huge smile on his face."

Richard Humann, North Star building supervisor