Jacob J. Fairbanks

Sunday, April 13 2008 @ 12:28 AM EDT

Pioneer Press -- An outgoing, dedicated father from St. Paul's East Side died Wednesday while serving in Iraq, six months into his second tour of duty there with the Army.

The family of Spc. Jacob J. Fairbanks, 22, said the Army told them their son died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"Part of my soul and heart is gone," said his mother, Janette Fairbanks. "Part of me will be sad forever. My baby's gone."

The Pentagon said only that the "noncombat-related incident" is still under investigation. Fairbanks, a field artilleryman assigned to the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade combat Team, 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky., was on his second tour in Iraq and was stationed in Baghdad.

"In my heart I know it was accidental," Janette Fairbanks said of her son's death. "Everybody he knows believes it wasn't intentional."

Fairbanks, a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, graduated from Johnson High School in 2004. The wrestler and tennis player was voted "most outgoing" by his classmates.

He went on to take some general education classes at Century College in White Bear Lake, his mother said, and was active at his church, Hayden Heights Baptist in St. Paul.

When a recruiter visited Century, Fairbanks decided the benefits of joining the Army — a rewarding career and money for college — were for him, Janette Fairbanks said.

"He wanted to travel and see the world, and the Army brought that to him," she said.

Fairbanks enlisted in December 2004.

He met his future wife, Dwan Becker, in Kentucky.

The couple discovered early on that they were both from the East Side. They later married and had a daughter, Kayla. Becker brought three other children into the marriage, and family members said Fairbanks became a dedicated father.

"He loved all the children very much," said Dwan's mother, Kristine Becker. "The kids and Dwan were his life."

When Fairbanks most recently deployed to Iraq in October 2007, he kept in touch with his family through phone calls, letters and a Web camera.

Dwan Fairbanks told family she had spoken with her husband via webcam for three hours before his death.

"There was nothing negative, everything was positive," said Kristine Becker. "It's just too hard to believe."

Dwan is still at the family home at Fort Campbell, Ky. with her four children: Alexander, 11, Katelin, 9, David, 5, and Kayla, 1.

Dwan's father flew from St. Paul on Thursday evening to be with his daughter.

"It's such a hard thing to deal with," Kristine Becker said.

Fairbanks is the 61st Minnesota member of the military to die in Iraq since the war began five years ago.

Besides his wife and children, he is survived by his mother and stepfather, Jeff Sehr, of St. Paul, and father, Steven Elwood, of Oakdale.

Fairbanks received several military honors during his service, including the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Iraqi Campaign Medal, according to the Army.

Fairbanks' body is in Dover, Del., and will likely come home Wednesday, his family said. His mother said a memorial service is being planned at Johnson High School, but the rest of the funeral arrangements are pending.

She hopes to know more about her son's death when the time comes to bury him.

"I don't want any soldier to get killed over there, but why did it happen to my son?" she said. "I just don't think it should have been him. He had his whole life ahead of him."

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