“Life with Jim was absolutely fun,” said his wife, Edie Delaney, of her husband, with whom she spent 16 years.

James T. Delaney, known to his friends as “Jim” — a former Guilderland paramedic and trainer — died on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 of complications from a stomach virus, Mrs. Delaney said. He was 47.

The Guilderland Paramedic Association posted a tribute on Facebook, on the afternoon of Mr. Delaney’s death, writing, “Jim was one of the best paramedics we have ever had, and had a certain special type of humor that could bring anyone to laughter. He trained many of our current paramedics, who have gone on to train the rest of our paramedics, and was instrumental in shaping Guilderland EMS into what we are today.”

Millette St. Germain Smith of Voorheesville, a friend of Mr. Delaney’s since high school, said that, years ago, after he was diagnosed with cancer, he held a funeral for himself. “So he was able to attend his first funeral. It was a great party,” she said.

Locally, Mr. Delaney worked with Troy Ambulance Service, Mohawk Ambulance, Town of Guilderland EMS, and with the Albany County Sheriff’s paramedics, according to friend and fellow paramedic Paul Toscino of Colonie, who said that Mr. Delaney was very serious about patient care and would do whatever was in a patient’s best interest. Mr. Toscino said that that Mr. Delaney left the Capital District for Pennsylvania at the turn of the century.  

Mark Mahar called Mr. Delaney “probably one of the best medics that I’ve ever come across.” Mr. Mahar, a former EMT and then captain with Ravena Rescue, worked with Mr. Delaney on many calls and said that he learned “so much” from him.

“When it came to lifesaving, the rules just went out the window,” Mr. Mahar said of Mr. Delaney’s approach. “He taught me to do what I had to do to save that person’s life.”

Mr. Delaney “had this insight into the knowledge he was taught by doctors, to find things that other people wouldn’t have thought to look at,” Mr. Mahar said. He recalled one instance when they were riding together and Mr. Mahar suspected the patient was having a heart attack. Mr. Delaney, he said, took an EKG machine and placed it on the patient’s back; the readout indicated definitively that the patient was indeed having a heart attack, Mr. Mahar said, which could not have been ascertained with the usual placement on the chest. Mr. Mahar had never seen anyone, even a doctor, use an electrocardiogram machine that way, but having that information told them how to treat the patient.

Mr. Delaney was born on Dec. 15, 1969 in Albany, his wife said, and attended LaSalle Institute and Hudson Valley Community College. He was living in Drexel Hill, a suburb of Philadelphia, at the time of his death.

He met his wife at work. Mrs. Delaney said she “did what everybody says you’re not supposed to do: started dating the boss.”

But, she concluded, “Here we are, 16 years later, with three beautiful children, so it worked out.”

Their children are Liam, 15; Patricia, 12; and Teeghan, 10.

Mr. Delaney had a heart of gold but was always ready with a funny, smart-alecky answer to everything, his wife said. “My children  have grown up knowing that, when things get tough, you’ve got to lighten it up,” Mrs. Delaney said.

Mr. Delaney had worked for a number of organizations in the suburbs of Philadelphia, but had been out of work since last December, when he had suffered a pulmonary embolism, his wife said. He was recovering from that and planning to go back to work at the start of the new year, when he caught the stomach virus, she said.

“It was unexpected; that’s what shocked people,” she said. “He beat cancer, he beat the embolism. He always bounced back.”

The couple had met when Mr. Delaney was asked to go to Philadelphia to create an ambulance service; it was Temple University Hospital’s transport team, T-3, Mrs. Delaney said. There were experts from across the country brought in to “build this from the ground up, and Jim was in charge,” she said. There were 12 of them, and they were known as “the apostles.” Mrs. Delaney, a registered nurse, was the only woman on the team.

They surprised everyone in their families by getting married on Thanksgiving Day, before dinner, “since everyone was going to be there anyway,” Mrs. Delaney said. Since Mr. Delaney was an only child, their two families always got together at the holidays. Her father, a minister, performed the service.

She and her husband “weren’t smart enough,” Mrs. Delaney said, to figure out that, if they married on Thanksgiving, their anniversary date would change from year to year. They always celebrated it on the holiday itself, she said.

He missed their 15th anniversary by one day.

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James T. Delaney is survived by his parents, Thomas J. and Patricia A. Delaney of West Sand Lake; his wife, Edie (née Haley) Delaney; and the couple’s three children, Liam, Patricia, and Teeghan.

A viewing  was held on Sunday, Nov. 26, and a funeral Mass was on Nov. 27, with interment in Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery in Springfield, Pennsylvania.

The date for a memorial service in the West Sand Lake area will be announced later.

Arrangements were by Ruffenach Family Funeral Homes in Pennsylvania. Mourners may visit ruffenachfuneralhome.com to leave condolences.

Memorial contributions may be sent to St. Dorothy Parish, 4910 Township Line Rd., Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, 19026.

— Elizabeth Floyd Mair