James Waldon "Jim" Taylor was born March 17, 1937 in the Vermillion County Hospital to Samuel Edwin and Ilo Elizabeth Thorne Taylor. Around 1944, his parents moved their family to the Gary, Indiana area where his father became a high school history teacher. Every summer from his young teenage years he would go back to Dana, and either stay with his Uncle Billy Thorne or his grandpa, John Taylor, and help on their farms. In 1955, he graduated from Calumet High School, the same school his father taught at. In 1957, he met the love of his life, Virginia Anne Denisiuk, and they wed April 3, 1958 in the Church of Christ in Hobart, Indiana. Shortly after they wed, they moved to the home of her husband's grandfather who passed away the year before. They remained there a brief time before returing to the Crown Point area until 1967, when they returned to the Hillsdale area. Around 1969 they moved to St. Bernice, and moved again in 1971 to Terre Haute. They remained there until their youngest child graduated from school when they moved to Columbia, South Carolina in 1985. They were the parents of four children. He worked as a truck driver for most of his adult life, driving for more companies than he could remember. He was a member of the 1,000,000 mile club with Marten Transportation for accident free miles. He was close to the 2,000,000 mile mark when a stroke ended his driving career in October 2006. He died July 11, 2008 in Picayune, Mississippi under suspicious circumstances, although the coroner did not do an autopsy, and regretted not doing so, as he was cremated less than 3 hours after his death, and before his children could pay their respects. He will be buried in Killian Baptist Church Cemetery alongside his wife.