DANVILLE — Those who knew Kenny Nichols always will remember one of his key personality traits: He was happy.

The 27-year-old U.S. Army sergeant and father of four had been pinned with that rank mere hours before he was killed while patrolling in Afghanistan Dec. 1 during his second tour of duty.

Nichols would have been home for Christmas this year. He was going to take 15 days of leave this month.

Nichols’ body is scheduled to be flown into Vermilion County this week. A public service will be planned for this weekend at Georgetown Ridge Farm High School, with a time to be announced.

Still reeling from the news a week later, his family can barely believe he’s gone, but find that remembering him is easy.

“He was just a really positive person,” said Lexi Nichols, his widow. They were married in January.

Lexi has learned much more about her late husband, a 2000 graduate of Georgetown, in recent days.

As calls of support have poured into the family during the last week, she’s heard many happy remembrances about him from friends who knew him during his teenage years.

Lexi was seven years behind him in school, so she didn’t know as many of his old high school stories.

“(Everyone remembers) how good of a person he was, how much he cared about everyone else. He’d go above and beyond to protect other people,” she said.

In fact, Nichols often wondered whether he was doing enough. He’d been working mainly on a base in Afghanistan. Although the base was frequently attacked, Nichols’ main responsibilities didn’t require him to venture into unsafe areas on patrol assignments.

Knowing how short-handed the patrolling soldiers were, Nichols insisted that he join a patrolling unit.

“He always told me that he felt like he wasn’t doing the job he was supposed to do unless he was going out on missions. He wanted to be out there fighting,” Lexi said. “(Before he went out on patrol) he wasn’t serving the country the way he wanted to.”

His first patrol mission was the one in which he was killed.

His tragic death might not have displeased him, as he was doing a job he was deeply passionate about.

“He loved his country and he loved the Army,” Tina Cravens, his mother-in-law said. “Sometimes these days, that’s hard to find.”

She agrees with her daughter. She’ll always remember him for being what she calls “content.”

“He just has always been really content with everything. He was always happy with what he had and grateful for what he had. He loved his kids. And he loved my daughter,” Cravens said.

Cravens said the family still is trying to grasp Nichols’ passing.

“We’re still kind of in shock still,” she said. “It still doesn’t seem real. He was (usually) not here anyway, so it hasn’t sunk in. We’re just going day to day, trying to cope with the baby.”

Nine-month-old Pailynn is Nichols’ youngest child.

“She’s starting to say ‘Da-da,’ so that makes it rough.”

Cravens said coping with the death of such a young serviceman is more difficult to endure than other deaths in the family.

“You see it all the time on TV and you kind of think about it,” she said, but the family often got to speak with him while he was deployed.

“I’ve known young people who’ve died before, but this is just different. It’s hard on everybody.”

Lexi is the daughter of Tina and Mark Cravens of Georgetown.

Nichols’ other children are 6-year-old Brhyleigh, 4-year-old Kenneth III and 3-year-old Branden.