Junior education major Jessica Ruth Yearout died early Thursday morning of complications with Type 1 diabetes. She was 22.

Jessica Yearout was a transfer student to Sam Houston State University from Blinn College. She began her education at SHSU in spring 2014.

“She wanted to be an elementary teacher,” Jessica’s sister Sara Yearout said. “She loved children and she had all the patience in the world.”

According to her sister, Jessica Yearout enjoyed yoga, spending time with her niece Cheyanne Robertson who she also referred to as her best friend, and watching Disney movies.

Jessica Yearout moved in with her sister, her sister’s fiancé Brad and their daughter Cheyanne a couple of months ago.

“I cherish every memory of her,” Sara Yearout said. “She loved spending time with Cheyanne. They were like two little kids. I envied her for it. She was always so much more fun than I was and she spent every night helping Cheyanne with her schoolwork making sure she was ready for her spelling tests. She would make little puppets out of paper and pencils for when she read her books at night.”

Sara Yearout described her sister as someone who was outgoing, straightforward and not afraid to speak her mind in addition to being loving and uncaring about the opinions of others.

According to Sara Yearout, Jessica Yearout was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 16. She became dependent on an insulin pump for three to four years when she developed diabetic neuropathy in her feet in 2014, which according to Sara Yearout caused her sister a lot of pain.

“Her death was a big surprise,” Sara Yearout said. “She had been in and out of the hospital over the last three years. This was the first time [she had been in the hospital] this year.”

According to Sara Yearout, Jessica Yearout was found unresponsive Wednesday morning and taken straight to the hospital for tests. She was declared dead at 1:05 a.m. Thursday.

“With swollen eyes, broken hearts and shattered spirits… [Jessica’s mother] and I will miss her beyond any possible description and will go to our graves with broken hearts and an emptiness that can only be filled by a reconnection with Jessica in the afterlife,” Jessica’s father Ron Yearout said in a Facebook post.

The family donated Jessica Yearout’s organs to the Life Gift organization.

Dean of Students John Yarabeck called Yearout’s mother yesterday to confirm her daughter’s passing.

“I just told her that we’d contact the offices for her so she doesn’t have to do that which is standard protocol,” Yarabeck said. “We do that for the families because they are in no position to be calling a bunch of people for obvious reasons. We also send a plant on behalf of the university through our office and often student government sends something additional when they find out when the funeral is—they send flowers or things like that because we want to make sure that the families feel that Sam Houston is reaching out to them and sending our condolences and know that our thoughts and prayers are with them.”

Yarabeck said that Jessica Yearout will be included in the upcoming Raven’s Call ceremony which commemorates those associated with SHSU who have fallen throughout the year.

A viewing and memorial service in honor of Jessica Yearout will be held tomorrow beginning with the viewing at 4 p.m. followed by the memorial service at 6:30 p.m. Both will take place at the Brookside Funeral Home—Cypress Creek located at 9149 Highway 6 North Houston, TX 77095.