WONEWOC - Family members held the funeral service for Capt. Russell Seager, a victim of the Fort Hood Massacre, in rural western Wisconsin so he can be laid to rest next to his late mother.

In the intimate village of Wonewoc, an intimate Monday afternoon funeral for Seager, who was a psychiatric nurse with the 467th combat stress unit.
 
Capt. Darcy Greuel worked alongside Seager at the Zablocki VA Hospital in Milwaukee.
 
"It's been real difficult, emotional," she said. "He will be so greatly missed. He did such wonderful work."
 
The Mount Pleasant man found his calling treating returning soldiers for post traumatic stress. 
 
Lt. Colonel Susan Palmer remembers helping an ambitious Seager enlist at age 47 and prepare for deployment to Afghanistan at age 51.
 
"Talking to his wife yesterday, she said that had been a lifelong dream of his," said Palmer.
 
He was father-like figure and counselor to younger soldiers like Specialist Jeremy Rezin, who was among the soldiers who carried Seager's casket out of the service at Wonewoc Central School
 
"There's just such a small group of us out there and to have that happen is just unreal," Rezin said.
 
There is certainly sadness, but also anger over a life taken in a shooting rampage that seems so senseless.
 
"He was a very kind giving man that was taken too early," said Pat Henzig, a relative of Seagers.
 
Seager leaves behind his wife, 20-year-old son, sister and father.
 
Colleagues are planning another service at the VA Hospital Chapel in Milwaukee at 1 p.m. on Thursday for friends who could not make the trip.