A 39 year old Central Kentucky man has drowned while scuba diving in Florida. James Woodall II was diving near Tampa when he apparently had equipment problems.

Jim Woodall devoted years to saving lives as an EMT and paramedic. He then left Madison County EMs to open his own business, Superior Signs, in Richmond.

Jimmy Cornelison, the director of Madison County EMS, tells 27 NEWSFIRST, "He was someone I would have loved to have kept here, a very caring person and a superb paramedic."

And now EMS workers throughout Madison County feel as if they've lost a member of the family. Cornelison says, "He left his mark on all of us. As closely as we work together, we are a family, and it has to be that way. We just tie together."

Bruce Moores, the owner of a scuba shop in Richmond, had been on several dive trips in exotic locations around the world with Jim Woodall and says he was very accomplished under water. "Jim loved it a lot. It was a real passion for him, and he had so much fun doing it. He was a practical joker even under water. He would go up behind somebody swimming along and grab the back of their tank and let the guy pull him along. The guy would wonder why it was so hard to swim, and Jim was taking a ride."

The ride is over, but memories of Jim Woodall will live on. He leaves behind a wife, and two daughters.