ESCONDIDO -- Whether playing guitar on a parade float, cracking up regulars at a local bar or motorboating on Lake Michigan, Glenn Stevens was a man who knew how to enjoy life.

"He has a very unique sense of humor," said his daughter, Stacey Stevens of Escondido. "Kind of sarcastic. But he had a gentile smile, so that would draw people in."

Glenn Stevens, originally from Illinois, had a heart attack at 32 and switched to a less stressful career at the advice of his doctor. The one-time insurance agent became a home builder and lived for almost another 30 years following his new lifestyle. He died at his home in Escondido Nov. 7 at age 61.

Stacey Stevens said after her father was advised to change careers following his heart attack, he stumbled into construction after discovering he had a flair for woodwork.

"He started out just re-doing a room that he wanted to redecorate," she said. "He used a lot of wood in that room, and it came out really nice. He got a lot of compliments. Then he bought a house and decided to fix it up. And then he bought another house."

Stevens didn't let his health problems interfer with enjoying life.

"For a couple of years he owned a 32-foot Carver yacht he took out on Lake Michigan," Stacey said.

"We had a lot of fun with that."

He also loved sports, particularly the Chicago Bears and Cubs, his daughter said.

"His moods would change if the Cubs lost," she said.

When growing up in Chicago, Stacey said she remembered her father playing guitar at home, writing songs or performing Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings songs.

"Music was a huge hobby of his," she said. "When I was a kid, he was always playing guitar around the house."

Stacey said her father wrote country songs she thought were very good, but he usually was too shy to sing them to anyone else.

"He wasn't much of a singer, but he did write pretty good music," she said.

Besides loving country music, Stevens could handle his own playing electric guitar in rock 'n' roll bands. Once, when living in a small Illinois town, he and his bandmates built a float and played on it during a parade.

"In that particular parade, I remember them doing some Bachman Turner Overdrive songs," Stacey said.

Stevens also played drums, and one of his daughter's fond memories of her aunt's wedding was when the regular wedding band took a break and her father sat down at the kit with his own band and took over.

"They ended up being the hit of the wedding," she said.

Stevens also loved to travel, and his destinations included New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Hawaii, the Bahamas and most of the 50 states.

He also had a soft spot for animals, and Stacey remembers when her father was working in insurance, he once brought home a puppy in lieu of a payment a client couldn't afford.

His insurance company dealt with agricultural insurance, and she remembers another time when he came home with a piglet because a farmer said it was a runt and it would have to be put down unless someone would take the time to nurse it until it grew stronger.

The family named it Clancy.

"He made a pen for Clancy in the basement," she recalled.

About 14 years ago, Stephens' health was failing and he moved to Escondido to be closer to his sister, Gwen, who lives in San Juan Capistrano. While in Escondido, Stephens oversaw construction of Kamp Kuper youth retreat, where he lived as caretaker.

An avid golfer and member of the Escondido Country Club, Stephens retired from construction about five years ago, but then worked for about two years as a bartender at The Office in Cardiff.

"We joked that he took the job as a bartender so he could do his stand-up act," she said about her father.

Stacey Stevens said family requests people make donations in his name to the American Heart Association or organization dealing with diabetes.

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.