WARREN, Ohio -- Betty Martof led a simple life. She worked hard in men's apparel at the local Kmart for more than two decades before being laid off in the spring.

Neighbors and family members describe her as a caring woman, who loved children and who used her spare money to feed dozens of stray cats from her side door.

But Martof also acted strangely sometimes, driving her car to no place in particular. Once, family members said, she drove down the street naked. Another time, they had to bring her back from Michigan, where she had driven for no apparent reason.

Whether that quirky, unpredictable behavior is what led to her death at the bottom of Lake Arthur in Moraine State Park, likely will never be known.

Family members declined to go into details, but attributed the oddities of her behavior to an unspecified mental condition that Martof controlled with medication.

"She was fine when she took her medication," said her nephew Jim Martof of Warren.

Butler County Deputy Coroner Larry Barr speculated Martof became disoriented while driving in the heavy snow and didn't realize she had driven onto the thin, frozen surface of the lake.

"I think she just got out there and got lost," Barr said. "Unfortunately, she took a wrong turn that led out to the ice."

State police in Butler, who are investigating the case, have not been able to say what happened. Martof's family members are convinced that whatever it was, it was an accident, and that she was not suicidal, and Barr agrees.

"Why would someone drive all the way from Ohio to Pennsylvania to commit suicide?" Barr asked.

In the few days before her death, Martof was happy and looking forward to heading back down to Florida to be near her son, who lives in the Orlando area.

Even though his aunt had worked hard for Kmart, her nephew thought it was best that she lost her job earlier this year.

"I think it was a blessing because it got her to head down (to Florida)," Jim Martof said. That meant spending time with her 30-year-old son and 4-year-old granddaughter, Taylor.

Betty Martof's brother, Tom Martof, of West Bloomfield, Mich., said she returned to Ohio in early December so she could spend the holidays in her hometown. But he said she was planning to gather the rest of her belongings and head back down south in the spring.

Martof's nephew, Jim Martof, didn't know she had returned to Ohio's Trumbull County until he got a message from her just before Christmas.

"It was the happiest I ever heard her in her life," he said. "She was really joyous."

When Jim Martoff returned his aunt's call, he invited her to spend the holiday with his family at his sister's house in Plum, but the 55-year-old woman chose not to go. Instead she spent the day at her small, red brick bungalow.

She had two small trees decorated with lights, a bright red poinsettia wreath on the door and more of the holiday flowers in her front window.

When her brothers arrived at her house yesterday, the Christmas lights were still on.

"She was very happy," Tom Martof said.

That's why he and his brother, John, can't figure out what happened.

"She had no reason, whatsoever, to be there," said John Martof.

One of Martof's neighbors spoke to her Christmas day, and asked her to join her and a friend on Monday for pumpkin pie and coffee. But on Sunday evening, a neighbor saw her steer her white Pontiac 6000 out of her driveway in the midst of a heavy snowstorm.

She ended up more than 60 miles away, in Moraine State Park, driving onto ice-covered Lake Arthur. Park rangers speculate she traveled along a snowmobile track before getting onto the ice. She drove along the snow-covered ice about half a mile before her car broke through the 3-inch layer of ice and sank to the bottom.

When divers pulled her out of the car Tuesday morning, she was still wearing a heavy winter coat, hat and scarf. The cause of death was ruled drowning, and the coroner's office is still awaiting toxicology results. Police do not suspect foul play.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Sinchak & Sons Funeral Home in Warren.