PALO PINTO COUNTY, Texas-- Perhaps the safest way to describe Jim Little's 73 years, is to say they weren't boring.
A decorated war hero in Vietnam, Little went on to become a Medal of Valor recipient with the Alaska State Patrol.
It's hard to match that man with the one that piloted helicopters to target rural banks in a series of high-profile heists in 1984.
It's even tougher still to square that with the man who earlier this month, suffering from PTSD, stabbed a motel clerk in Mineral Wells.
But for all of his trials and tribulations,the one role Little seemed to relish most of all was that of father.
"He was very, very important to me in my life," his daughter Tracey told WFAA.
Over the past few months, Tracey noticed a change in her dad. He was losing weight, and his mind wasn't as sharp.
His only daughter says he suffered from PTSD extending back to two tours of duty in Vietnam.
A couple of weeks ago, off his medication, it took a turn downhill. "He was just really struggling. I knew that it was bad," said Tracey.
Other family members tried to help, but ultimately Jim ended up locked in the county jail after a suspected stabbing and standoff.
He died several day later, from what authorities called a "major medical episode."
Tracey said at times, her dad's life was like something from Hollywood script.
"I've had people say it could be a movie," she said.
It actually did become a book, entitled "Once a Hero" and written by the late Dallas Morning News journalist Howard Swindle.
The book chronicled the man's life from Vietnam to Alaska to a federal prison cell.
Tracey said she would talk to her father about his decision to get involved with the robberies.
"He was just at a bad point, and we were all struggling to make ends meet," she said. "I know he said, 'If anyone gets hurt, that's it!' He wasn't violent."
WFAA reported on the daring heists throughout 1984, especially one that targeted a small bank outside of Denton.
Witnesses describe four to five armed men descending via helicopter, making off with lots of cash, and then vanishing over the horizon.
Jim was the pilot.
"There's still people that ask, 'Where's the money? Where's the money?' My dad didn't end up with very much money at all, and what he did he gave away," says Tracey.
Authorities said the gang made away with hundreds of thousands in a series of robberies. Eventually they were caught, and soon thereafter Jim ended up in a cell for the next decade.
"He would write me letters all the time," she said. "I still have all of them."
After his release, Tracey said her father returned to North Texas to spend time with his family. "To me, he was just dad," she said.
The Texas Rangers are now investigating his death. Tracey says a full autopsy is being conducted.
If anything good comes of his passing, she hopes it's that other veterans seek mental health treatment.