"If there was a motor in it, he'd been on it," said his brother, Chris Monroe.
Sunday, Rex Monroe took his last ride. On the Illinois River, in an area notorious for strong currents, he fell off a Jet Ski and drowned.
The lifeless Peorian was pulled from the river by rescue personnel. He was not wearing a lifejacket.
"He wasn't a safety-precaution taker," Chris Monroe said. "He didn't wear helmets on bikes either. That wasn't him. That was part of the thrill."
He said the Sunday mishap marked yet another intense and tumultuous episode of his brother's oft-rough-and-tumble 49 years.
"I'm glad we could help out," said Mike Johnson, chief of the department.
The duck dilemma unfolded about 2 p.m. Sunday. Near East Peoria Community High School, an observer spotted the birds inside a concrete spillway that leads into the Illinois River as part of the East Peoria Drainage and Levee District. A call for help was routed to the Fon du Lac Park District Police Department, which often helps in rescue efforts along the river.
Officer Glenn Neal went to the scene and spotted a mama duck at the bottom of the 10-feet-deep spillway, surrounded by six ducklings, Johnson said. Though sometimes nearly dry, the spillway was surging with rainwater, Johnson said. Sunday's rainfall set a record in the area.