['My husband was in an accident a couple of years ago. A van pulled out in front of him. A woman we knew was in it and she passed away.']
Oh, well that's terrible! Hopefully, your husband was okay and nobody else was hurt. But, it's awful that anyone was.
My husband was in a car accident a couple of years ago. A woman pulled out in front of him on the highway. Unfortunately a woman we knew was in the vehicle and passed away. We were so upset.