Three Rivers College has selected the Honorable Kacey Proctor, the Presiding Circuit Judge of the 36th Judicial Circuit, as its 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. A public reception in his honor will be held at 4:30 p.m. April 23, at the Tinnin Fine Arts Center in Poplar Bluff. The award presentation will begin at approximately 5 p.m. at the Tinnin Fine Arts Center.
“Judge Proctor is a respected leader in our community, and we are proud to include him in our Three Rivers family,” Three Rivers President Dr. Wesley Payne said. “He has served our community as a prosecutor, a Captain in the National Guard, and now as a Presiding Circuit Judge. We are honored to recognize him as our 2025 Distinguished Alumni.”
Former Missouri Governor Mike Parson appointed Proctor as Presiding Circuit Judge in 2023 following the retirement of Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett. Prior to that, Proctor served as a prosecuting attorney in Carter County and Butler County, and as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Taney County and Ripley County. He was named Prosecutor of the Year in 2022 by the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.
Previous Distinguished Alumni Award recipients include Dr. Sonya DiCiro, Dr. Ron Webb, Dr. Amy Rowland, Rep. Todd Richardson, Karon Campbell, Stan Berry, Erick Kirkman, and Larry DeWitt.
“I am very humbled and honored to receive this award,” Proctor said. “It’s not something I ever imagined that I would receive. Looking at the past people who have received it, it is a quality group of people, and I am proud to be a part of that.”
College wasn’t in the cards originally. When Proctor graduated high school in 2003, he wanted to join the military. Less than two years prior, America was attacked on Sept. 11, and he wanted to serve his country. Proctor eventually did just that, serving 13 years in the National Guard, deploying to the Middle East, and eventually earning the rank of Captain. Initially, his waiver to join was denied by the military due to torn knee ligaments from football injuries.
“This is a great place to come and explore and figure out what you want to do. Because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life when I started college here,” Proctor said.
Proctor bought some tools, got a job helping build houses, and took classes part-time as part of the A+ Scholarship program. He recalls skipping a biology exam one day because it was nice outside, and he needed to go pour concrete. The professor should have failed him. Instead, they understood he was trying to make ends meet while attending school. Proctor got a second chance to take the exam, got one of the lowest scores of his college career, but passed the class.
“College wasn’t a priority for me at first. It wasn’t until I took a Philosophy class and fell in love with education,” Proctor said. “The Philosophy classes, along with the English classes, really built a good foundation for law school.”
College was all Proctor wanted to do after that Philosophy class. He sold his tools and started attending Three Rivers full-time.
“Keep going. Don’t stop,” Proctor advised current and future students. “I know sometimes college drags on, and it feels like there is no end. But there is an end, and it will be there before you know it.”
After graduating from Three Rivers in December 2005 with an Associate of Arts degree, He earned a Transfer Scholarship to Southeast Missouri State University, and all his credits transferred seamlessly. Around his junior and senior years, he began exploring law school as a possible career path. He scored well on the LSAT, and coupled with his GPA, he was accepted to law school at St. Louis University and graduated with his Juris Doctorate.
“Nobody in my family had ever gotten a four-year degree. My parents didn’t even graduate from high school,” Proctor said. “After coming to college and being inspired by some of the teachers that were here, it made me want to continue my education and go as high as I could go.”
Proctor recalls a professor telling him in 2004 that they could see Proctor running for public office one day. He dismissed it then, but was reminded of that day when he filed to run for Butler County Prosecuting Attorney in 2018. Now a Presiding Circuit Court Judge, he regularly sees the positive impact Three Rivers can have on those seeking to turn their lives around.
“Three Rivers has programs where you can learn to be an electrician, learn HVAC skills, get a Nursing degree, all at a low cost with quality education. You can pick yourself up with your bootstraps,” Proctor said. “Anything you can do to help someone break the cycle is amazing.”
To make a reservation for Proctor’s public reception, contact Three Rivers Director of Development Michelle Reynolds at 573-840-9077, or at michellereynolds@trcc.edu. Any donations made in his honor may be made payable to the Three Rivers Endowment Trust and will be earmarked for student scholarships.
