Dedicated maintenance man provides welcoming presence for UMD community

First published Dec. 21, 2021 in Stories Beneath the Shell.

Stanley Proctor is as close to a superhero as a maintenance guy can get.

Timothy York, Proctor’s supervisor, said students and professors routinely request Proctor to fix whatever needs fixing. 

“Stanley’s work ethic is like not too many people. I can give him any task at all, and I know that Stanley will take care of it,” York said. “Stanley doesn’t care he’s gotta work late. Stanley don’t care what he’s gonna do as long as he gets the job done.”

As a multi-trades chief, Proctor — who’s worked at UMD for 11 years — can repair anything from light ballasts to toilets to water mains and everything in between. 

“I can’t think of a problem that he doesn’t know how to fix,” said his son, Stanley Proctor Jr. 

Earlier this semester, the elder Proctor was called to fix an oven that was turning on randomly in the apartment of Talya Horn, a junior communication major. She and her flatmates were scared. 

“He was so nice and so gentle,” Horn said. “He was like a dad.”

While Proctor was there, he changed old pipes and fixed some other things — all without Horn and her flatmates asking him to, she said. He left them a receipt each time, signed “Stan, your local handyman.”

The local handyman worked all through the pandemic with no hazard pay, just like other housekeepers and mechanics in the University System of Maryland. Other state employees, including police officers, nurses, prison guards, were given hazard pay. 

York, Proctor’s supervisor, said people that worked through the pandemic should get hazard pay no matter who they worked for — and administrators should start backing the workers up.

“We did our part. It’s time for them to do their part,” York said. “They are not taking care of us at all.”

For all of the danger the pandemic exposed Proctor to, some good came of it as well. He received his own truck to serve calls. Before, up to six mechanics had to huddle up in one truck and walk to their final destination, he said.

Proctor is used to being noticed. He’s a former wrestler — and a very successful one at that.

Proctor won the Maryland Wrestling State Championship for high schoolers three times and was ranked second in the country his senior year of high school. He even made it to the Junior Olympic Games in 1984, when he was ranked fifth in the world.

“He’s like a piece of steel. If you grab him, you can’t move him,” summer coach Jack Lassise told the Washington Post in 1984.

Proctor was unusually strong but that doesn’t mean it was easy for him, said former coach Bill Chesley. Wrestling requires hard training, dieting, physical fitness and a lot of effort — and Proctor excelled, Chesley said.

Proctor doesn’t fit the stereotype of a macho wrestler, though. Quite the opposite, Chesley said.

“He’s a mild mannered, easy to get along with, hard working guy and a good family man,” the realtor said. 

Proctor studied at UMD in 1986 for one year but wasn’t able to wrestle because his grades were too low. He dropped out after that year because his dad needed help. 

“I was young, I made a bad decision. I should have stayed there. But I always tell my wife if I stayed there, I would’ve never met you and had these kids,” he said. “If it meant not meeting you, I’m glad I left.”

Proctor isn’t wrestling anymore, but he’s passed his love for wrestling on to the next generation. 

He coached the Bowie Boys and Girls Club wrestling team for many years while working at Citizens Bank. He had to stop after taking the job at UMD since he gets off work too late and needs to work on weekends, too.

He passed the sport on to his son.

“He taught me how to love the sport of wrestling.” Stanley Proctor Jr. said. “He was never hard on me in wrestling.”

The elder Proctor went to work for his own father’s construction company, where he learned about electrical issues and plumbing. The job helped him start a career in maintenance.

Proctor worked at Citizens Bank for 20 years. But once SunTrust Bank bought Citizens Bank, the management decided to outsource maintenance. Proctor was left without a job. 

He decided to work at his own company for about a year, but he missed health insurance benefits. Proctor went back to UMD — this time, as a mechanic — after his wrestling coach at UMD told him there were openings. 

“I miss the pay [at Citizens Bank]. But you know, I like working at Maryland. It’s a good place to work other than the money,” Proctor said.

Money is tight for Proctor. He works on Chesley’s farm on weekends taking up odd jobs, such as building fences around a pond so swans don’t escape.

Those jobs help Proctor make ends meet.

His daughter, Grace Proctor, is a junior at West Virginia University. Stanley Proctor Jr. graduated from Towson University and works at mortgage company NewDay USA. Jonathan Proctor is helping his parents after completing an associate’s degree at Anne Arundel Community College.

After work, Proctor cooks for his wife, Jacqueline Proctor, and his two sons, Stanley Proctor Jr. and Jonathan Proctor. Jacqueline Proctor delivers food with Uber Eats in the meantime. 

Life has come full circle for Proctor — he has fixed problems in Washington Hall, his old dorm. He said he doesn’t remember which room he lived in anymore but going in does bring back memories of his first year. It was filled with homesickness, fun and disappointment, all at the same time. 

“He’s an exceptional guy,” Chesley said. “I wish he was the normal guy, but he’s the exceptional guy.”