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In the early morning hours of July 29, 2016, the airplane flight paramedic Michelle Tarwater was on crashed near McKinnleyville, California.

Michelle, pilot Larry Mills, flight nurse Deborah Kroon, and a patient all perished. Tarwater “lived larger than life.” Her priorities were, “her work, her faith, and her family.”

She was a flight paramedic with Cal-Ore Life Flight in Brookings, Oregon, since 2011, fulfilling her life’s passion in EMS.

Her work ethic has been described as dedicated, committed, professional, caring, and humorous. In a letter written to her mother in 2011, Tarwater wrote, “I went out with my boots on. I’m doing what I love, and I’m okay with that.”

On June 23, 2016, Eric Speck and his crew responded to a medical call at the Dakota City Jail. Speck began not feeling well during the call but continued with patient care and returned to service.

After his shift, he went to the hospital where he remained until June 27, 2016, when he passed away due to cardiac arrest.

Speck was employed with the Omaha Tribal Rescue in Macy, NE, and was the Fire Captain with the Dakota City Fire Department for 15 years. His knowledge, dedication, and commitment will be missed by many.

In the early morning hours of March 26, 2016, after assisting with a patient from an accident scene, Haynes Life Flight 2 helicopter in route to Montgomery, Alabama, crashed into a deeply wooded area in the Goodman community.

Flight paramedic Jason Snipes, flight nurse Stacey Cernadas, pilot Chad Hammond, along with the patient, all perished in the crash.

Snipes wanted to be a flight paramedic since he was a child. He was described as being an incredible person with lots of character, a respected medic who loved this community, and always ready to help others. Snipes was once quoted as saying, “I’m not a hero, God does his work through my hands.”

Paramedic Brian Shepler, 44, died February 10, 2016, after a mechanic’s rack failed, causing an ambulance to fall on him. He was a paramedic with the West Jefferson Medical Services in Louisiana.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

— Robert Frost

Jacob Shepherd of American Medflight in Elko, Nevada, died November 18, 2016, while working as a flight paramedic transporting a critically ill patient on an American Medflight aircraft when it crashed, killing four people.

Shepherd had worked for several fire departments in Nevada and the Toole County Sheriff’s Office before becoming a flight paramedic and educator for American Medflight.

He was described as embodying purity, clear understanding, true happiness, and unconditional love. He is survived by his wife, Sadie Brooke Shepherd, two sons, and a daughter.

Lowell Satterwhite, Sr. had responded to a “full code” medical emergency on June 10, 2016, with the Dakota City Fire and Rescue in Dakota City, Nebraska.

Shortly after midnight a 911 call was made from his residence for possible heart attack. He was taken to the hospital where doctors attempted to continue to revive him but all efforts were unsuccessful.

People in the community had a lot of respect for him. He did everything he needed to do to keep the community safe throughout the years — fight fires, save lives, and literally change lives with what he did.

In both work and family, he was dedicated, loved to have fun, pulling little pranks, laughing, and enjoying the outdoors, hunting and fishing. Co-workers say Lowell was a leader at the fire hall, someone everyone could look up to in his 41 years with the department.

Nathan Rabison, 28, died in the line of duty July 29, 1946, when the ambulance he was traveling in collided with a trolley.

Rabison was an ambulance surgeon for Unity Hospital in Brooklyn, New York.

“Patrolman Dominic Gerardi, 38, attached to the emergency squad of Miller Avenue precinct, who was administering the oxygen [and] the patient…were shaken up but went home after treatment,” the New York Times article reads in part. The hospital was unable to give the paper further information on Rabison at the time the paper went to press.

Jonathan Noce was working for the Joachim-Plattin Ambulance District in Southern Jefferson County, MO. He had run three critical calls during his shift throughout the day and evening.

Noce went to his sleep quarters around 10 p.m. He did not wake for shift change the morning of May 25, 2016, and was found by his partner and co-workers in the sleep quarters deceased.

Noce had been with the Joachim-Plattin Ambulance for six years and was very well liked by everyone. His chosen profession allowed him to make a difference in many people’s lives.

Robert Morton, Jr., 27, died in the line of duty April 11, 1938, when he was thrown from the rear of an ambulance while responding to an emergency on Staten Island.

Morton’s skull was fractured, and he succumbed to his injuries later the same day. “Dr. Morton, who was specializing in surgery at St. Vincent’s, had been assigned to ambulance duty. About 2 p.m. a call was made for an ambulance to go to an address on N. Burgher Ave.

Dr. Morton responded in an ambulance driven by John Tighe,” the New York Times article reads in part. “The entrance that on the small seat at the rear of the vehicle, which is closed by the swinging doors. Detectives expressed the belief that one of the doors swung open, and that Dr. Morton, in an attempt to close it, lost his balance and was thrown for the speeding machine.

Tighe was unaware of the accident until a passersby called to him.” Morton was a graduate of Fordham University and of the New York University Medical College. He began his internship at St. Vincent’s July of 1937.