Marjorie Hutchieson was travelling with three family members when their car slid off the Hume Freeway at Springhurst and hit a tree.

She was seriously injured and died in hospital on Wednesday night.

The road had been covered in ice after a hailstorm at the time of the crash and police said no-one was at fault.

Her son Bobby remembered the 87-year-old mother of seven as a giving person who would be sorely missed.

“In the past 10 or 15 years she spent her time knitting beanies and gloves to send to people overseas,” he said.

“She had bags and bags of them which she used to send to third world countries.

“She was a wonderful lady.”

Mrs Hutchieson had been married to husband Robert, who was driving the car, for 64 years.

They had been travelling with Marjorie’s sister Shirley and her grandson Jeremia, from Queensland, around local attractions when a hailstorm struck about 2.30pm.

“He slowed down from about 105km/h to about 80km/h and as soon as he slowed down the car aquaplaned,” Bobby said.

“The tail spun out and hit the tree.”

Shirley was taken to Wangaratta hospital with serious back injuries and later airlifted to a Melbourne hospital, while Robert was assessed at hospital and released yesterday.

Jeremia was assessed but escaped with only minor injuries.

Phil Hutchieson described his late grandmother as “an absolutely lovely person”.

“She was always helping others,” he said.

“She was kind, loving and loved her knitting.

“You wouldn’t find a better grandmother.”

Pam Hutchieson said her mother-in-law was “more like a mother” to her.

“She was terrific,” she said.

Family members were planning to travel from Queensland to visit Shirley in hospital.

Funeral arrangements have not been made for Marjorie, but she is expected to be farewelled late next week.