NATCHEZ — Sgt. First Class Severin Summers gave nearly 20 years of his life to military service, and he smiled through almost every minute of it, a family friend said Monday.

Summers of Natchez was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan over the weekend. His wife Tammy Summers was notified by a sergeant major and a chaplain from the Army National Guard Sunday night, friend Phyllis Beach said.

Tammy last contact with her husband was via e-mail Saturday.

Tammy spent Monday en route to Dover, Del., where her husband’s body was being sent. No arrangements have been made, and it may be several days before the military releases Summers’ body, Beach said.

Summers was deployed July 2 for Afghanistan, a repeat trip for the special forces solider and ranger.

Recently, he was stationed in Bagram, Afghanistan, but had recently left for Marzak, Afghanistan.

Beach said Summers loved to hunt, was a true outdoorsman and lived his life as an open book.

“If you knew him, you knew him,” she said. “He was a very jovial, bubbly person.”

Summers married Tammy Jan. 17 of this year.

“They were that perfect couple,” Beach said. “She met him right before he was deployed three years ago. They were soul mates.”

Summers also has a 13-year-old daughter, Shelby, who lives in Baton Rouge.

He is survived by his parents West and Charlene Summers of New Roads, La., three brothers and one sister.

One brother is currently serving in a different part of Afghanistan and another brother is serving in Iraq.

Summers split his time in the states between a house in Natchez and his job as the Mississippi Special Forces recruiter in Bentonia.

During Hurricane Katrina, Summers was stationed at the National Guard Armory in Natchez.