Floriene Hamel Police still aren’t saying what caused a January car accident that killed a 90-year-old Newbury Park resident.

On Jan. 16 at 1:30 p.m., Floriene Hamel was driving her 1998 Nissan Altima south on Ventu Park Road and making a left turn onto eastbound Lynn Road when she was struck by a 2000 Ford Expedition driven by Wendi Tovey, 43, of Newbury Park, according to TOPD Sgt. Barbara Payton.

Tovey was returning from an event in Simi Valley with seven 9-year-old girls in her vehicle, Payton said.

The girls received some “bumps and bruises” but were not seriously injured, the sergeant said.

Hamel was taken to Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center, where she later died.

According to Sgt. Rick Harwood, head of TOPD’s traffic division, the investigation into the crash is ongoing and could take up to 30 days to complete.

“There are interviews that need to be completed and the speed of (Tovey’s) vehicle needs to be determined,” he said.

Hamel was on her way home from the post office when she was killed, said her granddaughter, Heidi Buschow.

“She was such a good driver,” Buschow said. “She never had an accident, never had a ticket. She drove hundreds of thousands of miles across the country several times.”

Shermma Ellis, Hamel’s daughter, also commended her mother’s driving acumen.

“She was so irritated with people that were distracted (while driving),” Ellis said.

Life of the party

“Fee,” as everyone called her, was the life of the party.

Once a month, Hamel hosted a holiday-themed celebration at her home and made hats for her guests.

“She loved every holiday,” said neighbor and friend Rachelle Dior, whose daughter called Hamel “Grandma Fee.”

Christmas was a favorite.

Every year, Hamel dressed up as Santa Claus and distributed toys at National Charity League’s Fibber McGee’s Thrift Shop in Thousand Oaks. She was a volunteer for more than 20 years at the shop, one of the many nonprofits gave her time to.

Hamel visited medical offices and hair salons wearing her red suit and curly white beard.

“She loved to dress up in costume. She had that free, fun spirit,” Ellis said.

A burgundy sweater from 1940 was a treasured keepsake. Hamel would wear it to her annual high school reunion at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles.

“She was the only one that still wore her senior class sweater,” Ellis said.

Black-and-white images captured the former model in elaborate hairdos.

“She was always impeccably turned out,” Buschow said. “Matching jewelry, makeup on.”

Hamel once captained her bowling league, and she enjoyed making quilts and tending to her 100 rosebushes.

She loved ballroom, tap and square dancing, and played many instruments, including the guitar, banjo, ukulele and organ. Her band, The Foot Notes, played at senior centers and friends’ parties.

Buschow’s children, Chloe and Garrett, were often on the floor drawing, sewing and playing Monopoly with their energetic great-grandmother.

As news of Hamel’s death spread through the community, people have responded with “genuine tears,” said Dior, who’d known Hamel for 13 years.

“Everyone loved her,” she said. “I never once in all the years I knew her heard her complain. Never heard her say a bad thing about anyone. She found the good in everybody.”

Everyone was drawn to her, Buschow said.

Hamel would have turned 91 on March 6.

“She would have lived to be over 100,” Buschow said. “She was taken from us in a blink of an eye and much too soon.”

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the National Charity League, P.O. Box 4528, Thousand Oaks, 91359.

Harwood said expects the investigation into the crash will be complete by mid-February. “Witnesses may come forward,” he added.