Family, Friends Pack Private Seau Ceremony

Some 2,000 friends and family of Junior Seau gathered at in Oceanside to remember the NFL legend.

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

Seau was found dead at his beachfront home on May 2.

The occasion was filled with joy, she 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 to 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.”