A poster on the wall behind Dan Jaimes’ desk while he was principal at Central Junior High School told students his take on whose opinions counted.

And it was that poster  which read “When I want your opinion I’ll give it to you”  that friends and co-workers recalled after Mr. Jaimes, 66, died Monday. He was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis 1 1/2 years ago. (Obituary.)

“I think the poster promoted the tough exterior that he kind of took pride in, and to some extent it was kind of true,” said Dan Neuenswander, former Lawrence public schools superintendent. “Dan was a military man, and as a result Central Junior High was a very structured environment because he believed the kids needed that structure. The poster kind of completed the picture.”

Mr. Jaimes’ ties to Central Junior High School go beyond his 24 years as principal that ended in 1994, when he retired. He was a high school student in the building when it housed Liberty Memorial High School.

“Dan spent most of his career at Central, and I think the thing that made him so special is that he grew up in that neighborhood, and he knew families,” said Neuenswander, who also attended school with Mr. Jaimes. “And while he had a tough exterior, he had a very caring, emotional way with the kids.”

Carol Pilant, school librarian, noted Mr. Jaimes’ disciplinary attitude often dissolved because of his love for the faculty and students.

“There was nothing he would not do for kids,” said Pilant, whom Mr. Jaimes hired in 1978. “He could chew them from one side of the hall to the next and then put his arm around them in almost the same exchange. He was that kind of a person.”

His wife, Kay, said her husband was a teacher and educator first and foremost.

The Central Junior High School building was important to him, she said.

“The English teachers at Central would ask him to come back to speak to the seventh-graders about the building,” she said. “And that meant so much to him. He got so much joy out of going back to school and talking to the kids about the history of the building he spent so much time in.”

Though his firm demeanor and his love of children might characterize her husband of 12 years the best, Kay Jaimes said her husband also should be remembered for the joy he brought to others.

“I could probably talk about him forever,” she said. “It was a wonderful second marriage, and we were very happy. He was good to me as he was to most people.”

 Staff writer Michelle Burhenn can be reached at 832-6349.