An Iowa State student died Saturday evening at Mary Greeley Medical Center due to complications from surgery to remove a blood clot in the lining of her right lung.

Amy Loutsch, 20, freshman in agronomy, was admitted to Mary Greeley last week, where she underwent surgery on Wednesday night to relieve the blood clot. The cause of the clot is pending the results of an autopsy to be completed within two weeks.

Family members said Loutsch showed no signs of health problems prior to being admitted to the hospital.

After surgery, Loutsch developed Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome and remained hospitalized through Saturday, when her condition worsened by mid-afternoon. She died shortly after 9 p.m.

Born Sept. 11, 1979, in Orange City, Loutsch came into the world with a grin on her face and an affinity for farm life. A love for the farm came to her naturally. It’s a love that her parents fondly recall developing from day one.

“Ever since she was real small, she loved working on the farm,” Kim Loutsch said. “We’d put down clean straw in the pig pen, and she’d lay down next to the little pigs and let them come up to her and nudge her face with their noses. She loved that.”

As far back as her parents can remember, their daughter had wanted to work on the family farm. And she planned on doing just that, at her father’s side, after completing college.

As the summer of 1998 came to a close, Kim and Charles Loutsch said good-bye to their “little girl” as she left behind the family farm near Le Mars for college life at Iowa State.

Charles Loutsch said that coming to ISU was an easy decision for his daughter to make.

“We made a college visit during her senior year in high school, and she came back saying that she was 200 percent sure ISU was where she wanted to be,” he said.

Amy Loutsch attended St. Catherine’s and then St. Mary’s Catholic School until the fourth grade, when she began attending Remsen Union Community School. She continued her education there, graduating in 1998.

“Amy was always one that you could count on to be smiling when she came down the hallway,” said Remsen Union Community School District Superintendent Bill Roederer. “She’d have the biggest smile on her face and ask how you were doing. By her attitude, you knew that she was living a good life.”

In high school, Loutsch participated in everything from basketball to band to choir to cross country. She also was president of the National Honor Society and belonged to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Leadership Team, as well as a number of other clubs and organizations.

“She was very much involved with everything that she could be,” Roederer said. “She spent endless hours at school trying to make Remsen Union a better place. Our school is a small, close-knit family, and she will be greatly missed.”

At ISU, Loutsch was a member of the Agronomy Club and worked in the USDA Soil Tilth Laboratory.

Angie Rhinehart, senior in agricultural business, was the resident assistant of the dorm floor Loutsch lived on her first year at ISU, Vollmer House in Freeman Hall.

“She was always really sweet and happy and cheerful,” Rhinehart said. “She was willing to talk to other girls on the floor and was really involved and would help us out when we needed it. She could cheer anyone up.”

Peter Englin, associate dean of students, said the ISU administration has been in contact with Loutsch’s academic advisers and was deeply sorry to hear about her death.

“It’s an incredibly sad day when we lose one of our students,” he said. “There’s not a lot you can say to illustrate the level of loss.”

Following in the caring spirit she displayed throughout her life, Loutsch’s organs and bones will be donated as she’d indicated for them to be on her driver’s license.

“If someone gets her organs, we’d sure like to know,” Kim Loutsch said. “We’d be proud to know that part of our daughter was still surviving and helping someone.”

Loutsch is survived by her parents; four sisters, Angie of Huxley, junior in political science, and Lisa, Rachel and Joanie of Le Mars; maternal and paternal grandparents, Luella and Harold Mouser of Remsen and Joan and Raymond Loutsch of Le Mars; and a great-grandfather, Lee Mouser of Orange City.

Visitation is today after 2 p.m. at the Fisch Funeral Home in Remsen. Also today, a parish rosary will be held at 3 p.m. and a vigil prayer service at 7:30 p.m., both at the funeral home.

Funeral services are 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Oyens, with the Rev. Randy Schon officiating. Burial will be in St. Catherine’s Cemetery in Oyens.