PHILADELPHIA — Relatives of one of the Navy SEALS killed in the crash of a helicopter in eastern Afghanistan are remembering him as a friendly person with a sense of humor who was close to his family and always told them not to worry about him.

Military officials came to the family home in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia on Saturday to tell them of the death of Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Strange, 25, family members said Sunday. Authorities had not yet officially announced the death by Sunday afternoon.

“He loved his friends, his family, his country, he loved making people laugh. He was one of a kind,” his brother, Charles Strange III, 22, said outside the home, where more than a dozen American flags were displayed in addition to many flags planted in neighbors’ yards. “He’d walk in a room and see someone sad, and he’d make them smile.”

“He wasn’t supposed to die this young. He was supposed to be safe,” his mother, Elizabeth Strange, 46, told The Associated Press. “And he told me that and I believed him. I shouldn’t have believed him because I know better. He would say ‘Mom, don’t be ridiculous and worry so much. I’m safe.”’

“He was intense, he was funny, he had that dry humor,” his father, Charles Strange, told the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia.

Based in Virginia Beach, Michael Strange had been in the military for about six years, four of them stationed in Hawaii, and had been a SEAL for about the last two, his mother said.

“Michael did very well. He listened to what people taught him and he learned a lot. He was real smart to begin with,” his mother said.