Dunlap Fire Chief Fondly Remembered

June 4, 2003

Peoria Times-Observer

By Tom Bathers, Times Newspapers

Whenever a fellow firefighter approached Ivan Schoenbein with a question that he did not know the answer to, he always said the same three words -- "Go ask Wayne."

Wayne Peplow, Dunlap's fire chief for the last 21 years, always had an answer.

And, more importantly, Schoenbein said, Peplow always kept his office door open.

Peplow, 59, died May 25 at OSF St. Francis Medical Center, about three weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

"We will all miss him so much," said Schoenbein, a seven-year veteran of the Dunlap volunteer fire department.  "You could always go talk to him about anything and he would always be able to help.  He always had time for us.  His door was always open."

Peplow's death was the second tragedy to strike the Dunlap Fire Department.  Just days earlier, firefighter and Peoria County sheriff's deputy Jim Mulay was killed in an auto accident while on duty.

Jim Emanuels, a volunteer fireman, said all the firefighters are staying strong in the wake of both tragedies.

"We're a family here," he said.  "Jim Mulay and Chief Peplow were big parts of that family.  Now, we all have to come together and support each other through these tough times.  That's what they would have done for us."

Schoenbein said he will miss Peplow's acute knowledge of firefighting and the way he made others feel better when he walked into the station. 

"He was a person that everybody wanted to follow," he said.  "You couldn't have asked for a better chief and a better friend."

Emanuels said Peplow was instrumental in elevating the small Dunlap Fire Department so that it was on par with other larger, more modern fire departments throughout the state.

"He was very big on training and on bringing in new ideas," he said.  "He was always encouraging us to take classes at Illinois Central College to expand our knowledge, and he even arranged for the fire department to pay for some of our classes."

Emanuels met Peplow in 1982.

"He was a big influence in my life," he said.  "I will always remember him."

Peplow, who retired from Caterpillar after 37 years, also worked as a part-time fire investigator.  He served as vice president of the Central Illinois Fire Investigators Association.

He was a Vietnam War veteran, and he achieved the rank of first lieutenant.

He became a volunteer firefighter in West Peoria when he was 19 years old.  He stayed there for 10 years and became assistant chief.  In 1975, he joined the Dunlap Fire Department and became chief in 1982.

He was a certified emergency medical technician, fire investigator, firefighter, fire investigator and HazMat technician.

He was a member of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association, National Association of Fire Investigators, International Fire Chiefs Association, International Association of Arson Investigators and the Illinois Firefighters Association.  He was a two-term president of the Peoria Area Fireman's Association.

He and his wife, Jane, have three children.