Youngsters Remember a Good Friend : Schools: Frank Madrid was more than the custodian at Anne LeGore School, and the students have helped to make a lasting tribute to him.

Children loved him because he made them laugh. Parents treasured him because he always kept a watchful eye on their sons and daughters. And teachers depended on him because he was so much more than the school’s custodian.

Indeed, after almost a decade at the Anne LeGore Elementary School, Frank Madrid had become an institution.

Now, a year after Madrid’s death, an expansive, brightly colored mural has been completed in his honor to make sure the janitor will always be a part of the school. The artwork, which many of the children at LeGore helped to paint, will be dedicated next month.

“It gives us memories about him,” said fourth-grader Debbie Orozco, 9. “He always understood everybody. If you had a problem you could tell him, and he would understand.”

When Madrid died suddenly of a heart attack last April at age 56, students wanted to honor him, and parents and teachers wanted to find a way to help the children deal with the unexpected loss.

“When this happened, the kids, parents and the teachers were really shocked,” said Principal Suzanne Seymour. “Frank was here one day, and the next day he was gone. For the children it was very difficult because they don’t really know how to mourn. The mural grew out of our efforts to pave the way for the healing process.”

Painted in various hues of blue, green and gray, the mural depicts California’s central coast and its rugged mountains, stately trees, spouting whales, dolphins and waves breaking against the shore. It is a bright spot on LeGore’s otherwise dull yellow-and-brown cement walls. The children chose to portray the scenic coastline because Morro Bay and Big Sur were among Madrid’s favorite vacation spots.

“Sometimes he would go away for a while, and when he came back we would ask him where he had been,” said Ruben Sandoval, 9. “He would tell us stories about the mountains, the sea, the dolphins. He loved nature.”

Madrid, a divorced father of two grown sons, also loved the children at LeGore school.

“He wasn’t just a janitor,” said Lisa Foley, a parent who was primarily responsible for painting the mural. “He knew all the kids by their names. He cared about them.”

Foley added that, as a working parent, she appreciated just how much Madrid looked out for her two daughters. “If they forgot their lunch money, he would lend it to them. If they forgot an umbrella, he would find an extra one or give them a plastic bag--he wouldn’t let kids walk home in the rain. He was always ready to do that little bit extra.”

And in return, LeGore’s students went out of their way to help Madrid. The El Monte School District added more and more classrooms at LeGore, but officials didn’t hire a new custodian to help with the additional work. Fourth-grade teacher Richard Wisz said his students noticed Madrid’s long hours and wrote letters asking the district superintendent to hire someone to help him.

“Sure enough, a new janitor was hired,” Wisz recounted. “The students went out of their way for him because they cared.”

Perhaps what the students liked most was that Madrid always made them laugh. “It isn’t as much fun at school without him,” said fourth-grader Braulio Fabian, describing tales the custodian told about his imaginary grandmother. Other pupils gathered around Fabian and giggled. “If a plane would fly over, he would say, ‘That’s my grandmother.’ ”

The grandmother jokes are legend at LeGore and so, too, is its favorite jester.

“He made us feel like we were worth something,” said 12-year-old Robert Trejo. “He would give us compliments and tell us all the things that we could do if we just tried. When he died, it was like you’re missing something from your life--you feel like there are things you can’t do without him.”

For Lisa Foley’s daughter Jackie, losing Madrid was like losing a relative. “He wasn’t just the janitor,” the sixth-grader said. “He was like an uncle or a grandpa. He was our friend. Now he’s gone, and there’s no one else to replace him.”