Two women in their 70s were killed in a head-on collision on U.S. 19 Monday night, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Around 9:45 p.m, 74-year-old Ruby Pearl Ray was driving a 2009 HHR station wagon north on U.S. 19, north of Stonebrook Drive. A Nissan Xterra sport utility vehicle was traveling in the opposite direction in the same northbound land, and the vehicles collided, troopers said.

Ray died at the scene. Her passenger, 75-year-old Greta Overbay, was taken to Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center in Ocala, where she later died from her injuries.

The two women were sisters-in-law, according to relative Sue Morris. Morris said the family is reeling from the loss, and that the women will be missed.

"Dearly, a lot because they were in everybody's lives," she said. "Funny, they're fun people."

Ron Morris said Ray and Overbay had just returned from a trip up north Monday afternoon, and they were headed right out to play bingo. They never unpacked their bags, which are still sitting in the mobile home the two women shared.

"They loved to have fun," Ron Morris said. "They loved to go do things. They loved people. They loved everybody they met."

The driver of the Xterra, a 51-year-old woman from Fort Lauderdale who has not been identified, was taken to Ocala Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

Investigators were trying to determine when the Xterra crossed into the northbound lanes. Blood-alcohol test results are pending.