[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 5 (Thursday, January 9, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E10]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING JUDGE ROBERT L. DOYEL FOR HIS SERVICE TO THE CENTRAL FLORIDA 
                               COMMUNITY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DARREN SOTO

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 9, 2025

  Mr. SOTO. Mr. Speaker, Robert L. Doyel served his country with the 
U.S. Navy at Vietnam, where he oversaw meals for 10,000 soldiers, and 
as a Circuit Court Judge in Central Florida from 1995 through 2010.
  Judge Doyel's passion for the underdog was a result of his humble 
upbringing in Shawnee, Oklahoma, as the youngest of Ruby Doyel's 10 
children--and the only one to graduate college. After one winter living 
with his family in an old chicken coop, Judge Doyel worked through high 
school and college, graduating from the University of Oklahoma with 
degrees in Accounting and Law. He was an attorney in Oklahoma before 
becoming a law professor at Ole Miss, where colleagues included former 
Washington NFL star and future Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat, and 
students included future novelist John Grisham.
  When he registered his son Gregg for youth baseball in 1978 in 
Oxford, Mississippi, Judge Doyel learned the city Civic League was 
still segregated. Having already committed to coaching, Judge Doyel 
stayed that summer but made it his mission to destroy the league. He 
recruited other white families in 1979 to the Oxford Parks Commission, 
and the segregated league soon folded.
  Judge Doyel earned his Masters of Law and Doctorate of Juridical 
Science degrees from the University of Wisconsin in 1984, and taught at 
Mercer's School of Law before moving to Winter Haven, Florida. He was a 
defense attorney, then a Circuit Judge specializing in family law. The 
title of his book on the subject brims with his fearless personality: 
``The Baby Mama Syndrome''.
  In retirement with Chelle, his wife of 37 years, Judge Doyel advised 
local Democratic Party leaders, served on the board for the Rainbow 
Ridge LGTBA Democratic Caucus of Polk County, and advocated fiercely 
for rape-kit testing and victims of domestic violence.
  Judge Doyel died November 1, 2024, at age 79.

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