"He had an incredible sense of humor," said Stacy Willey, 33, sister of Army Sgt. Cheyenne Willey, 36, who was killed in Baghdad when the bomb exploded near his vehicle.

Cheyenne and his sister grew up in Macomb before moving to California when he was 18.

"Cheyenne was a huge class clown, and I'm sure all his teachers and classmates (in Macomb) would testify to that," Stacy Willey said on Monday from Fremont, Calif.

She said he attended Macomb High School as well as elementary and middle schools.

"He was a rock; he was always there for you,'' Stacy Willey said. "We never really knew my father and he was never around, so Cheyenne was the male figure in our household, and he was like my father.''

A resident of Fremont, Calif., Cheyenne Willey lived next door to his mother, Patsy Miller, and stepfather and began his Army career in 1995. Stacy Willey lives about an hour away with her two daughters, Amanda, 12, and Grace, 1.

"My two girls were like his children," she said.

Cheyenne Willey, who had no children of his own, was godfather to Amanda.

Receiving the news of her brother's death just two days before Christmas has been extremely hard for the family, torn between trying to mourn their loss and putting on a brave face for the children.

"It was hard for my mother and I. It was probably harder on my 12-year-old than anybody," she said.

"My brother would absolutely not want his nieces' Christmas to be ruined over this," she said. "We certainly did try our hardest."

Stacy Willey remembers the good times she had with her older brother and most of all, his sense of humor.

"He was just so funny," she said. "He really loved to make people laugh."

Born on the fourth of July, Cheyenne Willey served in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm. He re-enlisted in 2004 and was deployed to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he was promoted to sergeant Oct. 1, 2005, according to the Army Special Operations Command. No funeral arrangements had been scheduled as of Monday.

He received eight commendations during his time in the military and has been recommended posthumously for the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal and several other honors.

Also killed in the blast was Sgt. Regina C. Reali, 25, of Fresno, Calif.

Both were assigned to the Army Reserve's 351st Civil Affairs Command in Mountain View, Calif.

Stacy Willey said her brother, a personal trainer and a member of a bicycling club, was a hard working and disciplined man.

Often he would wake up at 4 or 5 a.m. to run five miles or bike 10 miles to stay fit, she said.

Even as a young child, Cheyenne Willey had a newspaper route in Macomb that his sister often helped him with.

"Every Sunday morning he was up before the sun," she said. "He didn't believe in laziness."

But he did believe his work in Iraq made a difference, and he was there doing the right thing.

"Cheyenne truly believed in what he was doing over there," which included rebuilding cities and helping local people rebuild their lives.

Stacy Willey holds on to the memory of her older brother and says those who knew him will also remember his kind spirit and positive attitude toward life.

"There is not a person out there that has a bad taste in their mouth because of my brother," she said. "Honest to God, to know my brother is to love my brother."