SHREVEPORT, La. -- An 81-year-old woman dove into a pond and saved a fellow nursing home resident from drowning after a car she was in plunged into the water.

"There wasn't anybody else around," said Carolyn Kelly, who heard the accident and ran to help. "I've done a lot of swimming in my time."

Nina Hutchinson, 83, was taken to Louisiana State University Hospital after she was pulled from the pond. She died Monday, hospital officials said.

Her husband, Harlem Hutchinson, 90, had been driving Sunday afternoon when he accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake on his car and drove in the pond.

Kelly, a fellow resident at the Glen Retirement Village, swam to the passenger's side of the car and held Nina Hutchinson's head out of the water until firefighters arrived, officials said.

Harlem Hutchinson was able to get out of the car and swim to shore.

"She was definitely a hero," said Luther Sharbono, a fire district chief, said of Kelly. "She shucked her clothes and she bailed off in there."