SEEKONK -- The mementos of a childhood were laid out on two tables behind the yellow house with green shutters at 146 Warren Ave.

A shoebox full of baseball cards sat next to a stuffed gorilla and a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A worn basketball rested on the grass below with a remote-controlled car.

Marine Lance Cpl. Eric Valdepenas

At the center, a pair of military boots was propped up on a folding chair with a camouflage shirt draped over the back. U.S. MARINES was printed on the left breast. VALDEPEÑAS was on the right.

On Monday, Marine Lance Cpl. Eric P. Valdepeñas was killed in Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded while he was on patrol in Al Anbar province.

Yesterday morning, in the backyard of the two-story Colonial where he grew up, his parents, five sisters and two brothers-in-law interrupted their grieving to talk about the 21-year-old soldier whom they called "our hero." Two brothers were on the way home.

As they went up to a podium in front of a group of television cameras, they walked past the display they had created in memory of the youngest member of their close Filipino-American family. One sister, Edna-Anne Valdepeñas, held the arm of her 70-year-old father, Dr. Jesus B. Valdepeñas, in support.

A doctor with a family practice in East Providence, he spoke through tears as he told reporters, "I miss my son."

The last time anyone in the family saw Valdepeñas, a machine gunner, was last March before his reserve unit was deployed to Iraq. He was in his sophomore year at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst when his unit, the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, weapons company, was called up in December 2005.

"He told me, 'Dad, you're going to be proud of me,' " Jesus Valdepeñas said in barely a whisper.

He paused, then spoke again. "He's not coming back anymore."

Two other Marines, from Tulsa, Okla., and Overland, Kan., were killed with Valdepeñas when their vehicle was struck by the bomb, known as an improvised explosive device, in Falluja, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Defense. One of the men was in Valdepeñas' unit, which is based in Ayer, Mass.

The unit was scheduled to return late next month, and Valdepenas , who had received numerous military honors, including a Purple Heart, had planned to go back to school to finish his engineering degree, his family said.

Valdepeñas' sister Nora Lough said the members of the family felt a duty to talk to the media about Eric and what they described as his exemplary life. They are devout Catholics and several invoked God when they spoke.

"Live Jesus in our hearts forever," Ann-Marie Valdepeñas told reporters as she talked about her son.

The line is part of a prayer repeated at the beginning and end of each school day by students at Bishop Hendricken High School, the all-boys Catholic school in Warwick that Valdepeñas graduated from in 2003.

In a cracked voice, she tried to explain that they were words her son lived by. She called him a "loving, kind, loyal friend."

Valdepeñas followed his two older brothers to Bishop Hendricken after going to middle school at St. Margaret's School, in Rumford.

He's the second Bishop Hendricken graduate to die in the Iraq war. Army Capt. Matthew August, of North Kingstown, was killed Jan. 27, 2004, and is one of 10 men and women from Rhode Island who have died in the war.

Bishop Hendricken set up a memorial yesterday for Valdepeñas with pictures and a vase of flowers. An American flag outside the entrance to the school flew at half-staff.

Valdepeñas was an honors student at Bishop Hendricken but his true love was lacrosse. Yesterday, his lacrosse stick leaned against a table in the yard beside a picture of Valdepeñas in action wearing his green Hawks jersey with the number "25" emblazoned on the front.

He took up the sport when he was a freshman and learned fast. In his junior year in 2002, he was second-team, all-division and was one of three captains of the Hawks team that won a state championship. The following year, he was an all-state defenseman.

"When he wanted to do something, he did it with all his energy and all his strength," Lough said.

The Rev. Marcel Taillon, the chaplain at Bishop Hendricken, counseled the family yesterday after going to their home Tuesday night to pray with them.

He said he got to know Valdepeñas after Scott Shemenski, the Bishop Hendricken lacrosse coach, died of leukemia in November 2002.

The school created an award in Shemenski's memory to honor a member of the lacrosse team who displayed strong character. Valdepeñas was the inaugural recipient in 2003.

"It means he had this, right here," Father Taillon said as he gestured toward his heart.

Now, Valdepeñas' family has set up a scholarship in his name that will likely be awarded to a member of the Hawks lacrosse team. Donations to the Eric P. Valdepeñas Memorial Scholarshiop Fund can be made to Bishop Hendricken High School, 2615 Warwick Ave., Warwick, RI 02889.

The family has yet to arrange a funeral.

Yesterday, Lough took questions from the media, but she declined to answer when asked what her family felt about Valdepeñas being deployed to Iraq.

Her sister Edna-Anne Valdepeñas made the only political statement during the news conference. She described herself as "a Quaker educator" and said that her younger brother died in an "unjust war."

"I know that this loss tears at the fabric of my being," she said.

To her left, a photograph of Valdepeñas stood in a frame on one of the tables in the yard. It showed him dressed proudly in his Marine uniform.

Engraved around the frame were the words: "You are my Hero, a shining light in times of darkness and a Role Model of all that is Best in life."

akuffner@projo.com / (401) 277-7457

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