The Olympian -- Riikka Jacobsen will hold on to the memory of her husband serenading her with songs by Sting -- his favorite artist.  The Lacey mother of four are among six families mourning the loss of Fort Lewis soldiers killed by a suicide bomber Tuesday in a Mosul mess tent.

For Jacobsen, the devastating phone call came on her ninth wedding anniversary.

This Christmas Eve, Riikka Jacobsen was joined by her parents -- from Finland -- and her husband's parents -- from Charlotte, N.C. -- in a living room decked with stockings, gifts, and a triangular-folded U.S. flag honoring the fallen soldier.

She remembered him as the perfect husband.

"He had a great sense of humor. He always made me laugh," said Jacobsen, wearing a T-shirt bearing a screened photograph of the couple.

She recalled how the captain, who deployed for Iraq Oct. 13, would wrestle with their three sons and 2-year-old daughter and take them for walks in the woods.

This was the first time Capt. Jacobsen had deployed overseas, and the two had talked about the dangers of his mission and what she would do if he didn't come home, she said.

She might move to North Carolina now, to be closer to his parents and five siblings, she said.

The captain's father, Bill Jacobsen Sr., a retired lieutenant colonel, said his son was committed to bringing the members of his company home alive.

"I know how hard that can be," said Jacobsen. "He felt a real obligation to his soldiers."

The Vietnam veteran choked up when he described his son's accomplishments.

"You couldn't ask for a better person. You couldn't ask for a better son: totally committed to his family, totally committed to his wife, totally committed to his country," said Jacobsen. "We know it's not in vain."

The eyes of Jacobsens' neighbors on Gray Court were red as they cooked a Christmas Eve ham next door.

"We've been crying for the last three days," said one neighbor, James Harris. "It's devastated everybody's Christmas. This is a tightly-knit cul-de-sac, and now it's awfully empty-feeling.

He recalled that when Jacobsen played with his children in the front yard, he always included Harris' grandson.

"He's touched our hearts," Harris added. "How many neighbors do you have that'll touch your heart?"