ASHTABULA — A 72-year-old Avon woman was killed Sunday after a teenage driver apparently swerved to avoid hitting a small animal on Interstate 90.

Nora B. Woidke, 72, was pronounced dead after being flown from the scene to Hamot Medical Center in Erie, Pa., according to the Ashtabula post of the Ohio Highway Patrol.

The driver of the other vehicle was being held pending further investigation and the possible filing of charges, according to the patrol post.

The accident occurred at 12:45 p.m. in Kingsville Township, about 2 miles east of North Kingsville in the eastbound lanes of the interstate. A 16-year-old girl from Mesa, Ariz., driving a 2008 Chrysler minivan, swerved to avoid hitting an animal in the road, according to the patrol. That action forced Woidke, who was driving a 1999 Buick Park Avenue, to swerve off the road and into the median, where her car struck the end of a guardrail and flipped, the patrol said.

Woidke was on her way to the Presque Isle casino in Erie, Pa., when the accident occurred, according to her son, Eric Woidke.

“It was a nice day, and she just wanted to take a drive and go relax for a couple of hours,’’ he said. “My dad and brother usually go with her,” but neither joined her on Sunday.

The oldest of 11 children, Woidke emigrated from Ireland when she was 18, said Eric Woidke, 40, the youngest of the woman’s four sons.

Woidke moved to Avon nearly three years ago from Cleveland’s West Park neighborhood. That’s when she and her husband, George, retired after 25 years of owning and operating a Convenient Food Mart on Cleveland’s west side. “She was a great lady,” said Eric Woidke. “She loved people and Irish music.”

The couple was married 50 years. Nora Woidke also is survived by six grandchildren.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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