Smoke rose into the sky Monday at Haskell Indian Nations University as students and employees mourned the death of a 37-year-old student.

DeAnn B. Ridesatthedoor was found dead at 9:40 a.m. Sunday inside a house where she’d slept the night before in the 1600 block of West 21st Street. Police are awaiting autopsy results to determine the cause of death but do not suspect foul play.

Ridesatthedoor, a member of the Blackfeet Nation of Montana, was a mother of two children and a business administration student. She’d recently begun serving as secretary-treasurer of a new club for Catholic students.

“It’s really such a tragic loss for anybody who knew her because she had such vitality, such energy,” said Brother Joe McGlynn, director of the Catholic Campus Center, who planned to have a memorial prayer service Monday night. “You could ask her to volunteer for anything and she would do it.”

Ridesatthedoor didn’t live at the home where she died, said Sgt. Mike Pattrick, a Lawrence Police Department spokesman. A resident of the home called police after finding her unresponsive, he said.

Pattrick said he didn’t know of any medical conditions she had, and said he didn’t know when autopsy results would be available.

“It is always a tragedy to see a young life, full of hope and full of promise, ended so suddenly,” Haskell President Karen Swisher said in a prepared statement.

Haskell officials said the campus’ fire circle — a circle of stones with slowly burning wood in the middle — would burn for 24 hours in Ridesatthedoor’s honor. The circle gives students a place to pray according to the beliefs of their respective tribes, officials said.

Debbie Gilmore, a third-year elementary education major from Clera, Okla., stands near the fire circle at Haskell Indian Nations University. The fire was lit Monday to commemorate a student who was found dead during the weekend.

“The belief is that you use that circle and smoke carries your prayers to the heavens,” university spokeswoman Lori Tapahonso said.

¢ 6News video: Haskell campus mourns student