John Frese, former Union Maintenance Repair Technician Manager

John Frese began working at the university as a student in 1966 cleaning residence halls and performing other maintenance tasks for the housing department. He moved to the Union maintenance department in 1968. Frese’s position transitioned over time to the maintenance repair technician manager.

During his five-plus decades of service, Frese had seen a multitude of changes – in the nation, on campus, and within the Union. He had been in the presence of Bobby Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Regan, and others through the university’s Landon Lecture series. Five different university presidents have held office while Frese was a part of the K-State family.

He was instrumental in the 1963 and 1970 expansions and the 1998 and 2015 renovations of the Union – updates advanced the Union from typewriters to computers, pay phones to cell phones, smoking in the building to a smoke-free campus, individual thermostats to computerized energy management systems and more. Frese also worked with five Union directors, hundreds of Union staff, and thousands of K-State students. He always enjoyed the liveliness and bustle of the Union and the campus.

Frese retired from the Union in 2020 after 52 years of service and is enjoying his retirement by spending time with his wife and traveling.