East Otago High School caretaker and property manager John Rawson and his wife, Maureen, who has been a cleaner at the school, will both retire at the end of this month after 27 years at the school.
Principal Lennox Sharp said Mr Rawson was a ''wonderful asset to the school''.
In 2010, a room at the school that had been remodelled into a meeting room and pupil study room was named after him.
Former school principal Rick Geerlofs said pupils were at the heart of everything Mr Rawson did. In the mornings, before school started, boys often ''came to talk at the shed'' where Mr Rawson worked.
Mr Rawson said it was ''the kids'' he had enjoyed most in his work at the school.
He had also enjoyed the variety of work, which included mowing lawns, sweeping the playgrounds and cleaning the school.
His job had expanded to property manager as well as caretaker.
His tasks had grown over the years to include painting and overseeing projects, including the development of the swimming pool, which was built a few years after he started at the school.
Mr Rawson recalled being recruited as a basketball coach by a gruff-voiced pupil who said to him: ''You can coach basketball, can't you?''
So, he ended up a basketball coach for more than 20 years.
His hardest job was getting new principals to ''come round to his way of thinking''. He usually got his way in the end.
Gardens had been developed around the school while he had been caretaker, with roses his specialty.
He never had to tell pupils off for taking the flowers, telling them: ''Ask me if you would like a rose to give to a girlfriend.''
Mr and Mrs Rawson will retire to their Oamaru home and channel their efforts into the house, the garden and playing golf.
Gary Johnston, of Palmerston, will succeed Mr Rawson as caretaker and property manager from the beginning of November.
