Denver Post -- A soldier from a tiny Colorado town died in Iraq on Friday.

Pfc. Travis W. Anderson, 28, was known to friends and family in the agricultural community of Hooper for his adventurous spirit.

Anderson grew up as a farm boy in and around Hooper, between Moffat and Mosca at the junction of Colorado 17 and Colorado 112, just west of the Great Sand Dunes National Monument.

"He lived here his whole life," said his mother, Barbara Anderson. "He worked for several of the farmers around. He helped his cousins do a lot of ranching."

She said he never married and had a large extended family in the area.

"He was a quiet, friendly guy that loved everybody and everything," his mom said.

Anderson was based at Fort Stewart, Ga.

He died when an explosive detonated close to his convoy near Beiji, military officials reported.

Services are pending.

"He was a sniper," said his sister Bissy Anderson.

"He was known for his coyote hunting. It was his passion," she said. "He loved to hunt. He loved to fish. He loved to hang with his friends."

Anderson was popular with the girls, too, his sister added.

His grandmother, Violet Freel, said Anderson was a high school athlete.

"They all loved Travis. He was kind of an ornery kid, but he was a kid, he was a boy," she remembered.

"He was just one of those kids that created his own excitement. He just lived life full and fast. What his friends couldn't think of, he could," Freel said.

He dropped out of Sangre de Cristo High School in Hooper, but he later went back to school in Monte Vista to get his diploma so he could enlist in the Army, she said.

Anderson had been in the Army for about 1½ years, and he had been in Iraq about four months.

Freel said her grandson talked of making a career out of the service and planned to take paratrooper training.

"He was just looking for a place to be," his mother said, "and that was the Army."