Dr. Debra Royce is mayor of Sarcoxie, Missouri, and a board member of the Sarcoxie Community Foundation
Dr. Debra Royce has long helped heal hurt — and improve health — in Sarcoxie. That’s literally true through her work as a physician, but after moving home in the late ’90s to take over her father’s medical practice, she has also championed local causes.
“It was always kind of my dream to come back to town and be the doctor,” Royce says, who retired in 2021. “For 59 years, there were a lot of people who hadn’t been to a doctor not named Royce. I actually practiced a year longer than I wanted to, but I couldn’t find anybody to buy (the practice), and I didn’t want to just close it up, because they needed a physician here.”
Dr. Royce’s role in local leadership began on the local school board years ago. That work led to her leadership in raising $500,000 for a new athletic stadium, now named in her honor, over the course of six years.
“I went to every ball game. We carried up the chili and the taco meat. We did a ham-and- bean feed. It was just one thing after another,” she says of just a few of the ways the group worked to raise money. “Just building that stadium renewed the kids ... about staying around here.”
Another effort, she notes, is the Come Back Kids Scholarship. The endowment currently holds about $125,000 to help local students complete their college education if they commit to returning to Sarcoxie to teach for two years.
She has served with the Sarcoxie Community Foundation, which has supported needs from the town’s outreach center to its veterans memorial. And in 2023, Royce was elected mayor — a position that has helped her support the city pool (a pet project), fix the town’s streets and plan for future water needs.
“I love this town,” she says. “It’s been really good to me, and so I’ve tried to give back to as best I could.”
Who inspires you? Send your suggestions of individuals moving the needle in your community to Kaitlyn McConnell, the CFO's writer in residence, at kmcconnell@cfozarks.org.
