BRISTOL — State health officials confirmed last week that a St. Philomena School seventh grader who died last week did indeed have H1N1 flu.

Victoria Sousa, 12, the daughter of Louis and Cathy Sousa of Hope Street, passed away midday Monday with family at her side. She was an excellent student and three-sport athlete at St. Philomena School in Portsmouth, in 2006 had won the title of Little Miss Fourth of July in Bristol, and loved going on sailing adventures with her family. She leaves two older sisters, Marguerite and Emily.

At a late Wednesday afternoon press conference, the state Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that Victoria had indeed contracted H1N1 (swine flu). DOH spokeswoman Annemarie Beardsworth said that while the disease can manifest itself in various ways, its rapid progress in Victoria’s case is not unheard of.

Most people for whom H1N1 becomes severe have underlying medical conditions, she said. “That was not the case with Victoria.” She added that the tragedy emphasizes the importance of families taking advantage of H1N1 vaccine clinics that will be starting shortly.

At the press conference, Gov. Don Carcieri and health department Director Dr. David Gifford announced that Victoria was the fourth person in Rhode Island to die with H1N1 in 2009. The previous three were in the spring and all had underlying conditions. She is the first to die this fall and the first to not have underlying conditions.

Sudden turn for the worse

Victoria’s first symptoms became apparent late last week, her family said.

On Friday morning, she had a low-grade fever and a cough. Her parents called their pediatrician and he suggested that she stay home from school. Things got neither much better nor worse over the day and into the weekend. The up and down fever remained, as did the cough, but there seemed no cause for alarm.

With the fever still present Monday morning, her parents called the pediatrician again and he recommended that she stay home another day.

With Victoria’s sisters headed off to school at Bay View Academy, and her mother and father going to work, grandmother Mary Sousa came over to take care of her for the day. So that she could keep a better eye on Victoria, her grandmother asked her to come downstairs from her room to spend time on the couch.

As the morning progressed, her grandmother noticed that Victoria’s condition seemed to be taking a turn for the worse and she was having difficulty breathing. She called Mr. Sousa, who headed straight home from work. In the short time it took for him to get there, Victoria’s condition had become grave.

Finding that she had stopped breathing, Mr. Sousa began CPR while Victoria’s grandmother called 911. He continued CPR until Bristol Rescue took over and he stayed with her in the ambulance to the hospital. All efforts to revive her proved fruitless.

Word of their classmate’s death reached St. Philomena School early by way of a Monday evening phone message from Principal Donna Bettencourt-Glavin. The school, which had seen very few flu-like cases lately, opted not to close but pulled together trained grief counselors from surrounding schools. One of the brothers from Portsmouth Abbey next door visited to say Mass.

And, even though there had not yet been a diagnosis of H1N1 flu in this case, word of the girl’s death and the early flu-like symptoms prompted quick responses from surrounding communities. Portsmouth Superintendent of Schools Susan Lusi sent an e-mail to every school family in town expressing her sympathy, calling for calm, and offering advice to families for avoiding H1N1. That advice included staying home from school whenever flu-like symptoms are experienced.

A friend to all

Sports and school were important to Victoria, her mother Cathy said, but some of her best times were with friends.

“She loved sleepovers, loved having friends coming over and walking into town to Bristol House of Pizza or Dunkin’ Donuts.”

A special family moment came in 2005 when big sister Emily, the reigning Little Miss Fourth of July, got to crown her 8-year-old sister first runner-up for that title. The next year, Victoria was the winner.

Victoria especially enjoyed ski trips up to Stowe, Vt., and cruises aboard the family’s sailboat, Sophie. “Cuttyhunk was a favorite place — the ice cream store, exploring the beach ...

“She had a happy personality and was a good friend,” Mrs. Sousa added. “She had 12 great years.”

Grandmother Dolores Splaine said Victoria was a charming mix of quiet and bubbly. “She’d be quiet and then she’d hit the nail on the head, say just the right thing.” When she was littler, she’d come into the room doing her “grooves — little dance things” and have her Dad rolling on the floor laughing. “Just a sweet, sweet girl.”

A midfielder sorely missed

At 2 p.m. on Sunday, Victoria’s Bristol Colts soccer team will take to the field in Swansea a player short for the first five minutes at right outside midfield, Victoria’s usual starting position. All of her teammates will wear her number 8 over their hearts, and Sofia Cabral will wear her best friend’s jersey.

“It will be hard for everyone to see, but is a fitting tribute,” said Sofia’s father, Bristol resident and Sousa family friend Arthur Cabral.

“Victoria was like a daughter to us, my daughter’s best friend,” he said. “They grew up together, went to school together, played together.”

There was no mistaking her athletic ability even from a young age, Mr. Cabral said. “She was a great soccer player but picked up every sport she tried ... She even played lacrosse for awhile and right away you could tell she had the talent.

“But more than that she was a very happy kid with a beautiful smile,” Mr. Cabral said — great company on many laughter-filled rainy day trips to Dudek’s Bowling Alley in Warren.

“She was that special kind of person who was a friend to everyone, who always listened to others.”

The most difficult thing he ever had to do was tell his daughter what had happened, Mr. Cabral said. “She is taking it very hard.”

John DaSilva, who coaches the Bristol Colts U13 team, said Victoria was a valued part of the team and not just because she was a skilled player in a highly competitive group.

“She had natural ability, was a hard worker and was very coachable. You never had to tell her something twice, she’d just go out there and do what you asked,” he said. And while she may have been happy-go-lucky, “she would certainly not back down out there on the field.

“She was a great teammate, and the girls all loved her. If there were 16 girls on the team, she had 15 friends,” he said. She was that way as a little 7-year-old player and never changed.

Since her death, her teammates and some of their parents have gathered at his house in the evenings. “The girls are trying to come up with ways to honor their friend. They’ve been working hard on a scrapbook of their Victoria memories — it’s going to be a very big scrapbook.” Tuesday evening they went as a group to the Sousa house to offer condolences to their teammate’s family.

“They all came in and sat down together on the floor; there were a lot of tears,” Victoria’s mother said. “But I think they needed it and I know it meant an awful lot to us.”

On a team such as this that plays together 11 months of the year, often at distant tournaments, “This is a family and Victoria will always be a special part of that family,” her coach said.

Victoria had it all going for her, said Phillip Quinn, her social studies teacher and cross-country coach at St. Philomena — superb athlete, excellent student, hard worker.

“She was quiet in the classroom but very expressive. You could tell by her facial expressions what she thought about something — she didn’t have to shout it out but made herself very clear.”

He said the word ‘conscientious’ fits Victoria.

“Conscientious with her schoolwork, conscientious with her friends and her surroundings. She was one of the best athletes in school and could have been a standout, a big ego, but she was conscientious about other people’s feelings. Whether she got an A on a test, two goals on the soccer field or got named to the premier team in Bristol, it never changed who she was.”

Memorial fund

Her family has established the Victoria Sousa Fund, c/o BankNewport, 330 County Road, Barrington, RI 02806.

Her mother said it will be used to help underprivileged young people — helping pay the cost of a sports team or some other pursuit that interests the child. Money also will be used toward scholarships for deserving students at St. Philomena School.