Family, Friends Pack Private Seau Ceremony

Watch for more coverage as Patch follows the public service for Seau at Qualcomm Stadium Friday evening.

Hundreds of friends and family gathered at in Oceanside to remember Junior Seau—the NFL legend who took his life May 2 at his beach-front home.

“It was beautiful,” said Lauren Godinet, Seau's niece, of Friday's celebration of life. 

The occasion filled with joy, he said, adding that eulogies by friends and family were held together by a common theme — her uncle’s smile.

Her father, Wilson, said the service was “positive and uplifting.”

“It just made you want to get closer to God,” he said.

He saw relatives he hadn't seen for four decades. 

“(Junior) brought a lot of us together,” he said.

Before his cousin’s death, Wilson was teaching Seau to play the guitar.

He loved island music, he said, but he also had a fondness for country songs.

“We had to learn those too,” he said.

A significant lesson Wilson learned from the tragedy was hold people close while they’re here, he said, and to be more involved spiritually.

“You’re still here—still breathing,” he said. “Find God.”