The Olympian -- Chelsea White will remember how her father used to crack her up with his Marvin the Martian impressions.  The Olympia 12-year-old is among six families mourning the loss of Fort Lewis soldiers killed by a suicide bomber Tuesday in a Mosul mess tent.

Soldiers told Stephaine Vankomen on Tuesday her husband had been killed in the Mosul blast that day; half an hour later, Christmas presents arrived from her husband.

"We agreed not to have our Christmas until he came home," said Stephaine Vankomen. "He had sent me an e-mail and said, 'I know what our pact was, but you know me. I can't go without doing something for you.' "

The couple lived in Olympia with Stephaine's daughter, Chelsea White. Vankomen was White's stepfather, but she considered him a father, she said.

"Me and him always goofed around," White said. "When he would pack my lunch for school, he would always put little notes in it, like 'Hi, dork.' "

Sgt. Vankomen, 33, was the youngest of 10 children growing up in Idaho.

Vankomen's older sister, Tina McDaniel, remembers him as a partner in crime who played practical jokes with her and "was there when you needed him."

The Vankomens had been married nine years, and Sgt. Vankomen had been in the Army for 13, first as an army mechanic, and more recently as a supply sergeant.

White remembers going to work with him and helping him fix Humvees. Despite his messy occupation, he was a fastidious man, the 12-year-old recalled.

"He was always very tidy," White said. "He would have the remotes in size order."

This was the first time Vankomen has deployed overseas; he left Sept. 30. He was trying to arrange leave to visit his family briefly after Christmas, they said.

"He was supposed to come home the 28th of this month, but he didn't, or he won't now," said White. "He sent me a glow-in-the-dark basketball. We always open one present before Christmas, and that's what I opened."