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An 85-year-old Temple Hills woman died Wednesday after a van struck her car as she tried to cross a Waldorf highway, Maryland State Police said.

At about 9:50 a.m., Helen Buchanan Owens drove her 2008 Mercury Grand Marquis out of a business parking lot, failing to yield the right of way to a van traveling south on Route 5 near Ell Lane, police said. As Owens tried to cross the highway, the 1997 Chevrolet Astro van struck the side of the Mercury.

The driver of the van, Wayne Howard Taylor Smith, 41, of Huntingtown, suffered minor injuries and was taken by ambulance to Civista Medical Center.

Owens had been leaving the Wonder Bread store on her way to other errands when the accident happened, said her daughter, Jan Viar.

Every Wednesday morning, Owens would visit a salon to get her hair done and stop at a few stores on the way home, making sure to be back by 11 a.m. so she could make lunch for her family. Even at 85, Owens was driving, her daughter said.

"She never stopped," Viar said. "She made me tired. I couldn't understand how she did it all."

Owens, who had five children, three stepchildren, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, centered her life on family; until her death, she cared for her husband and a stepson who was injured several years ago in a car accident, Viar said.

Owens also used to work at Safeway but retired about 20 years ago, her daughter said.

E-mail Bethany Rodgers at brodgers@somdnews.com.