Four decades ago, a 24-year-old Jerry Rerecich stood in a recreation hall on Renton Hill filled with kids looking to have some fun.

His career was under way, in this 500-square-foot recreation building in Philip Arnold Park that felt like a one-room school.

Today is Rerecich’s last day with the City of Renton Recreation Division. He rose through the ranks from that young recreation specialist to become the Recreation Division’s director.

He worked for eight mayors in his four decades.

His job at Philip Arnold Park “was a good way to start,” he said, surrounded by kids. It’s not unusual for him to run into them today, many with kids of their own going through the city’s recreation programs.

“It’s kind of cool to see the second generation,” he said.

Fast forward roughly 20 years, to the 1980s, to a spot next Interstate 405. There’s no Renton Community Center.

It was a time when John Webley, then Renton’s community services director, and other community leaders were thinking Renton needed a community center. Rerecich wanted to become part of what he called a “pretty exciting” venture.

The Renton Community Center opened in 1989, with Rerecich as the first manager.

No one fully realized the impact the center would have on the community, he said. “It has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.”

Rerecich, 64, and Bonnie, his wife of 33 years, live in Maplewood Heights. Daughter Sarah is a teacher and coach at Ephrata High School in Eastern Washington. Son Jamie works for an accounting firm in Renton.

Rerecich was born and raised in Seattle. He lived not far from a park. A recreation worker there had a real influence on his life. He graduated from Garfield High School in Seattle.

He went on to study PE and health at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, thinking he would become a teacher.

A coach at Garfield, Bill Diambri, suggested he consider a career in recreation instead. Diambri, who lived in Renton, also knew legendary parks director Gene Coulon.

Rerecich was fresh out of college. He didn’t become a teacher.

“It has worked out pretty well for me,” he said.

The encounter with the coach, he said, “is a good example of listening to your teachers, of listening to your mentors.”

Rerecich started work at Philip Arnold Park in 1969. It was a time when the city offered recreation programming to kids at nearby elementary schools. At one time, an elementary school was planned near the park. He stayed for six years.

About 10 years were spent at the larger North Highlands Recreation Center, which had a gym. He then got into management, splitting his time between supervising the city’s northern recreation facilities and working with kids at North Highlands.

The biggest change came when work began on the Renton Community Center.

The career ladder still beckoned. He became recreation supervisor in 1990, recreation manager in 1998 and in 2006, after an interim term, he was appointed director of the Recreation Division, the job he holds today.

Still, he missed working with children, work that extended beyond his city job.

He was a founding board member of the Community in Schools of Renton, a post he still holds. The organization, designed and funded to help students succeed in school, started in Renton in 1991.

Rerecich worked for the City of Renton at that same time Gene Coulon was the city’s park director, but their paths didn’t cross. He understands the impact Coulon had on the city’s parks system.

“He was very visionary,” he said.

That’s especially true of the waterfront park that bears his name, the Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park on Lake Washington. Decades ago, it was like any undeveloped stretch of waterfront, with logs stored off the shore.

Coulon saw it differently, Rerecich said.

“He saw it as a park that would last for generations,” he said.

Does Rerecich have his own favorite recreation facility? His answer: “The one I happen to be in at the time.”

Rerecich’s retirement comes as the Recreation Division is forced to eliminate or reduce services and programs across the board because of city budget cuts.

He’s not retiring because of the cuts, which are an “unfortunate circumstance,” he said.

The elimination of the programs “is almost a knife to the heart,” he said.

Those cuts include the summer teen musical, some swim times, some services and events at the senior center, among many others.

As director, he was intimately involved in deciding what cuts to make, something that led to “a lot of sleepless nights.”

Thankfully, he said, there were no staff reductions.

The end of a nearly 41-year career – spent entirely serving Renton – has been an emotional roller-coaster, he said. He worked on major projects, but the connections he made with people are more important.

The recreation staff is “fantastic,” he said.

Now, he has a honey-do list of chores. He has a passion for off-road motorcycling.

The city is putting on an invitation-only party for him tonight at the Renton Community Center.

“I am very worried,” he said, about what might happen. He said that as two center staffers stood outside the window waving enthusiastically at him during the interview.

The details of the evening are under wraps, but they involve dinner, a roast and a lot of hot-air balloons.

And a simple message to Rerecich.

Thanks for 40 years.