On January 28th, 2026, James Dale Taylor, Jim or Jimmy to his friends, age 53, stepped into heaven during his sleep at his home in Fairdealing, MO, after a brave battle with cancer.

Jim dedicated more than 20 years to flight medicine, serving as a trusted member of the flight crew of the Air Evac Lifeteam 24-Poplar Bluff and completed nearly 2,000 patient transports. Behind that number are countless lives touched-patients met on the worst days of their lives, families offered calm and reassurance in moments of fear, and teammates who relied on his steady presence in the aircraft and beyond. Jim personified what it meant to serve with skill, compassion and quiet strength and would often call back and check on the well-being of the patient he had left in the care of a hospital.

Jim loved to fish in the trout streams in northern Wyoming and was always after “the big one” hunting whitetail in the woods of Missouri. He volunteered his time on the sidelines of many Doniphan High School football games as an unofficial medic in case of injury, often with his good friend, Shelly Patterson Ward. Jim loved to fly and earned his pilot’s license under the tutelage of Mike Shane, a long time, expert pilot who has devoted years to Air Evac Lifeteam 24-Poplar Bluff. Jim was always ready to give someone a ride in his plane.  Jim loved to stay busy and was developing a partnership with his admired, cherished, and respected friend “Deuce” Mullen.

Jim is survived by his son, James Gage (Gracie) Taylor, grandchildren, Kesley and Hayden Taylor, daughter, Dyani Loree Taylor (Logan Price), Jim’s “second daughter,” Abigail Sullivan; his mother, Judy (Delbert) Knowlton, special friend, caregiver, and mother of his children, Stacey Taylor, father, Raymond Dale Taylor, nephew, Brandon (Christina) Taylor, niece, Jessica Parks (Jacob Barton), great nieces, Emmy, and Josie, and great nephew, Grant Taylor, all of Doniphan, an aunt, Elizabeth Reagan, and cousins of Poplar Bluff, and his beloved “Wyoming” family.

Jim was preceded in death by his sister, Cindy Taylor Parks, his grandparents, Raymond James (Slim) and Georgia Taylor, grandmother, Wilma Hardesty, and brother Eric Shane Knowlton.

Visitation will be held in the Edwards Funeral Home Chapel on Thursday, February 12, 2026, beginning at 10:00 a.m. with a Celebration of Life Service to follow at noon. At 1:00 p.m. Air Evac Lifeteam24-Poplar Bluff will perform a ceremonial Fly Over to commemorate Jimmy’s service with them serving Butler County and the surrounding area.