Jesse Miller had an knack for making people laugh, said senior Paul Diedrich. No matter how bad things seemed, Miller knew how to brighten moods.

“He was always the one that was cracking jokes,” Diedrich said. “He was always the one that was in a good mood. Nothing bothered him.”

At about 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Miller, 21, was found dead in the Chippewa River south of the Lake Street bridge.

It’s the second drowning death near campus in the past three years, said Mike Rindo, executive director of University Communications. The last death was when UW-Eau Claire student Michael Noll drowned in Half Moon Lake Nov. 6, 2002.

Miller would have had junior status at Eau Claire, but took a break this semester to focus on work, Diedrich said.

One of his greatest abilities was that he never followed a crowd and never cared what anyone thought of him, said Becca Miller, Jesse’s sister and a UW-Stout senior.

One event that displayed this, she said, was when he would go to the mall with his younger brother. His brother would always dress nicely, while Miller would just throw on anything.

“As a brother and as a person, he was a great person to have,” his sister said. “He always wanted to make you feel good. He could always make anybody smile.”

These abilities did not go unnoticed, said Bill Macozek, Horan Hall director. He added Miller was a very approachable guy, which was why so many liked him.

“I knew his circle (of friends) from Horan, which was pretty large,” Macozek said. “The impact he had on people was larger than that.”

Junior James Taylor and senior Jon Gaulke, both friends of Miller, recalled their last encounter with him.

Miller came by Taylor’s house for a party Friday around 9:30 p.m. to visit, he said. After leaving, he said he was probably going to go to the bars, Taylor said.

Around 1 a.m. Saturday, Gaulke said he saw Miller at the Pioneer Tavern, 401 Water St. That was the last time he saw him.

Chris Lokken, 22, of Eau Claire, said he saw Miller Saturday morning in the Chippewa River. He was in the middle splashing around when police arrived at the scene, he said.

“I don’t even know how to describe it,” Lokken said. “There are no words to describe what he was doing out there.”

The police tried to keep Miller from venturing further into the water, but it didn’t work, said Tim Golden, detective sergeant of the Eau Claire Police Department.

“The last thing an officer is going to do is go into the water,” he said. “We’re talking 40-pounds of extra weight. We are not trained to go into the water in a situation like that.”

At midnight Tuesday, many of Miller’s friends gathered around the Lake Street bridge area, Diedrich said, to say a final goodbye by floating candles down the river.

“We’ve just been trying to do … our little things, whatever we can to try and say our goodbyes to him,” he said.

Counseling Services is offering individual counseling on a walk-in basis for any students, said P.J. Kennedy, the director of Counseling Services.

While this has been difficult for friends and family, Becca Miller said she admired him and was fortunate to have him as a brother.

“Anything he did, he just threw himself into wholeheartedly,” she said. “He would never give up, and that’s the kind of person he was.”