Judge Ketchel is a lifelong resident of Northwest Florida, having arrived in 1959 as the son of a career Air Force father who was stationed at Hurlburt Field. He is a graduate of Choctawhatchee High School where he was the captain of the Choctaw football team his senior year. He attended Duke University on a football scholarship where he graduated with a Bacholor of Science degree in 1977. After working for a short time in Washington, D.C., Judge Ketchel returned to Florida where he attended and graduated from the University of Florida School of Law.

Since his return to Florida in 1987, Judge Ketchel has been extensively involved in community, church and political activities. He has served as the Vice-President of Government Affairs for the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce, was active as a Boy Scout leader for over a decade, and participated as a youth coach in numerous basketball, soccer and baseball youth leagues. Judge Ketchel has also been very active in church and school activities. He has served as a longtime Eucharistic Minister at St. Peter Catholic Church, served on the school board at St. Mary School, and is a charter member of the local Okaloosa County chapter of the Christian Legal Society. He has also been active in Northwest Florida politics, having been the Republican nominee for the United States Congress for the First Congressional District in 1990 and 1992.

Judge Ketchel’s family has also been very active in the community. In addition to being a Christian Family Counselor, his wife Carolyn is well-known in the community in her role as the host of talk-show “a Christian Perspective” on WPSM (91.1). Judge Ketchel is extremely proud of his two sons who both earned the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout. Judge Ketchel’s oldest son, Micah, recently graduated from law school at Florida State University and currently works in the Congress on the staff of the Veterans Committee; his youngest son, Andrew, is completing his Masters of Public Administration degree as a Gubernatorial Fellow in Tallahassee following his graduation from undergraduate school at the University of South Florida where he played football.