One of the longest-serving public officials in Monroe County history will see his distinguished tenure come to an end at midnight tonight.
Joseph “Joey” Proctor, 70, has served as Monroe County coroner since 1996 when he was appointed to the position following the death of then-coroner Andy Dillon.
Proctor was subsequently re-elected to the position seven additional times for a total of just under 29 years until he was defeated by challenger Mark Goolsby by a 62.9% to 37.1% margin in a June 18 Republican primary election.
Proctor said he’s gonna miss dealing with the public even though he was often around people who had just lost a family member and were going through some of the worst experiences of their lives.
“It’s not a job that you can say you enjoy,” Proctor said of being coroner. “It’s the self-gratification you get out of knowing you have really helped somebody. But anybody that says they enjoy the coroner’s office is either crazy or lying.”
Proctor said he’s most proud of the responsiveness that his office has shown to grieving family members as well as the public. But he’s also proud of the technological upgrades in record keeping that have occurred under his watch. All coroner’s reports and death certificates are now computerized.
“You could do it without ever touching a piece of paper,” Proctor said. “But I still take field notes and then put them in the computer.”
Proctor, who is retired from Georgia Power, has long served as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). He began being interested in becoming coroner while working for a private ambulance service that transferred bodies to the crime lab. He said he’s also always been interested in the process of death and is a fan of popular TV forensic crime shows like “CSI.”
“My wife gets upset with me when I tell them what they’re doing wrong,” Proctor said with a laugh.
Proctor said the Monroe County Coroner’s Office is responsible for handling any death not attended by a physician or one involving trauma. That means Proctor’s office has handled thousands of deaths in his nearly three-decade tenure, averaging about 125 per year currently.
“When I first started, if you had 50 to 75 calls, you had a bad year,” Proctor said. “But I’ve done 8 or 10 in the past two-and-a-half weeks.”
Occasionally, Proctor has had to make death notifications although the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office primarily handles that task. But perhaps Proctor’s most difficult task is identifying bodies, particularly when the victim’s body is badly injured. One time, he made multiple trips to a Columbus hospital trying to determine a female victim’s identity. The only way he identified the victim was by an x-ray that showed the victim’s toe was broken several weeks before the fatal incident.
Proctor has handled a number of high-profile cases, but his predecessor Dillon was still coroner at the time of perhaps Monroe County’s most infamous murder when a pair of Mercer students were gunned down at Lake Juliette in January 1995. Proctor, who was on the Emergency Response Team at Plant Scherer at the time, was actually the first EMT at the scene of the crime.
Proctor, who spent his last few days in office issuing remaining death certificates, said he expects there to be a smooth transition in the coroner’s office to Goolsby.
“The only advice I could give (Goolsby) is don’t let attitude get involved,” Proctor said. “Sometimes family members will push your buttons. You’re a public servant. Just remember that.”
Proctor’s family has a long history of service to Monroe County. His father, Joe Proctor Sr., was a Monroe County commissioner for decades representing north Monroe County. One of Proctor’s grandfathers was a bailiff, and his great-grandfather was a Justice of the Peace. Proctor himself served as Justice of the Peace prior to the office being abolished.
Proctor said he doubts he’ll run for public office again. He said he’s looking forward to traveling with wife Susan and getting in some time for fishing.
