Joseph I. Love

Wednesday, April 12 2006 @ 06:35 AM EDT

www.news-miner.com -- Pfc. Joseph I. Love-Fowler loved music, from the alternative rock group Cake to classical cello music by Yo Yo Ma.

He liked playing guitar with his dad and shooting pool with his mom. He gave his younger sisters advice, and sometimes warnings, about boyfriends. And after he once rollerbladed from North Pole to Fairbanks and back, his dad figured he could have been a professional athlete if he'd wanted to.

"He rollerbladed faster than I could bike," said Love-Fowler's sister, Brittany.

Brittany, sister Elizabeth Fowler and their father, Dan Fowler, remembered Joe on Tuesday at the family home off Chena Hot Springs Road. It had only been two days since Army officials in dress green uniforms came to the door and said that Joe had been killed over the weekend while serving in Iraq. Love-Fowler died when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee in Balad, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.

Dan Fowler said Army officials told him that his son's unit, the 84th Engineer Combat Battalion, 8th Sustainment Command, from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, was hit about 10 p.m. Alaska time on Saturday. Love-Fowler was taken to an Army hospital in Balad, where he died from abdominal wounds, his dad said.

Love-Fowler and his family moved to Fairbanks from Washington when he was about 3 years old. The boy with brown hair and eyes made friends quickly in the neighborhood near Chena Hot Springs Road and the Steese Highway. His dad laughed Tuesday, remembering how Love-Fowler, at age 5, met a neighbor of the same age, Carl Johansen. Fowler caught the two 5-year-olds using bottle caps to scratch swirly designs in Fowler's newly painted car.

"After they got in trouble, they were friends for life," Fowler said.

His son was always active, Fowler said. His stepmother, Nisha Harris-Fowler, met him when the family was playing football in the front yard. He and his sisters would often shoot hoops at nearby Weller Elementary School. He loved to snowboard and rollerblade and regularly played pool with his mom, Patricia Smith. Brittany said he ice skated "like a pro" the first time he tried it.

The family was also musically inclined. Father and son would pick at tunes on their guitars, while his sisters played the violin and flute.

"None of us are very good, but we liked it," Fowler said. "We learned from each other."

After graduating from Fairbanks Youth Alternative school in 2003 with a 4.0 grade point average, and working at a local concrete company for a short time, Love-Fowler enlisted in the Army in March 2003 and was sent to basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. His dad said he would get mad at the other soldiers who complained about the physical training at boot camp.

"He said it was a breeze," Fowler said.

In a basic training class graduation photo Elizabeth dug out from a drawer, Love-Fowler is the only one of dozens of new soldiers with a hint of a smile. His expression is tamer than his wide grin and long bangs from his high school graduation photo, but his sisters said he always looked like he was smiling.

Fowler said his son's decision to join the Army was a little surprising, but the family supported his decision and talked about the anxiety that went with the likelihood that Love-Fowler would deploy to Iraq. He came to Fairbanks for a visit in late summer before being stationed in Hawaii and deploying with his unit in December. His dad said Love-Fowler waived his two-week leave so he could spend more time visiting family and friends after his deployment.

The family kept in touch regularly by e-mail. Elizabeth said he complained about the mud but said the food was excellent. The items he requested most often for his family to send were comfortable shoes and razors, "the fancy kind with three blades," his dad said.

Love-Fowler would tell stories about Iraq. He wouldn't talk so much about his work uncovering mines or filling in holes from explosions, but about the Iraqi children and people he met.

"He liked to see the kids' faces," his stepmother said. "He liked to see them smile."

Fowler said his son also believed his work in Iraq was trying to undo injustice. Part of the reason he joined the Army was so he could eventually attend college and study architecture. But he also had a strong sense of justice, his dad said.

"He joined because he really believed in the end, he wanted to bring freedom to these people," Fowler said. "He believed in the ultimate good in things."

Fowler said a viewing, funeral and burial will tentatively take place next week near Tacoma, Wash. A memorial account has been set up at Alaska USA Federal Credit Union. Proceeds will go toward college costs for Love-Fowler's sisters.

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