Seattle Times -- Two weeks ago, while stationed in Iraq, Marine Pfc. Jason Hanson asked his mom to send him some Johnny Cash CDs.

Eager to assuage her son's hunger for music, Hanson's mother prepared the package and planned to send it off this week.

Hanson, 21, of Forks, Clallam County, died Saturday in Anbar province, Iraq. His mother, Carol Hanson, said military officials told the family that Hanson and three others were killed after a nearby explosion caused the building they were in to collapse.

Hanson joined the Marines in May 2005 and was deployed to Iraq in March, a month after marrying his wife, Maria Farias. He served as a rifleman in the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, based in Twentynine Palms, Calif.

When two Marines visited her home early Sunday, Carol Hanson said she kept thinking they were at the wrong house. "I just knew when I looked at them that my world stopped being perfect," she said.

Hanson had "wisdom beyond his years," said his mother, and he received a number of awards while in the Marines.

When he graduated from boot camp, his mother said she watched a man become a Marine. His dreams of entering the military started when he was 14.

"He believed in fighting for his country," she said.

He will be remembered by his family and friends as a small-town boy who loved fishing, music and motorcycles, Carol Hanson said.

"He had such a good spirit and it showed through his eyes," she said. "He was a nice kid who grew up to be a nice man. He had a way of smiling that made you forget you were mad."

Longtime friend Karen Reaves, who worked with Hanson at the In Place, a local restaurant, said "he loved life."

News of the young Marine's death spread quickly through Forks, she said. "The whole town is going to miss him."

His mother said the family thought of him as unstoppable. While in Iraq, Hanson survived three car accidents and a bullet to the chest — his bulletproof vest saved his life. "It took the whole universe coming down to stop him," his mother said.

Hanson's family has set up a memorial fund to send packages to service members from Forks and from Hanson's battalion. Donations can be made at First Federal Bank in Forks.

In addition to his wife and mother, Hanson is survived by his father, Stephen Hanson, brothers Jacob and Samuel, and sister Sarah, all of Forks.

A memorial service is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Forks High School.

"It will be a place for people to come and say thank you to Jason and a place for me to say thanks to the community. He was very happy here," his mother said.