A Minnetonka man and woman were less than 30 miles from their destination — a funeral for the man's father — when their car tried to slip ahead of a snowplow on an icy interstate, triggering a four-vehicle crash in western Minnesota that killed the couple, a family member said Tuesday.

The crash occurred about 11:30 a.m. Monday on westbound Interstate 94 near Barnesville, when the car tried to pass between a semitrailer truck on the left and the plow along the right shoulder, according to the State Patrol.

The car, driven by Judith A. Reid, 49, of Minnetonka, hit the semi and the plow, stalled in the right lane and was struck from behind by a pickup truck, the patrol added.

Reid was killed, as was passenger Sean L. Ray, 49, also of Minnetonka, the patrol said. Another passenger, Ray's son, Evan M. Ray, 16, was hospitalized in serious condition. The semi and plow drivers were unhurt. The pickup driver suffered minor injuries.

Sean Ray, who ran an art supply business in Moorhead, Minn., and Reid had flown in on Saturday to the Twin Cities from an art show in New York and left Monday, with Evan Ray, for Fargo for a funeral for Tim Ray, a noted artist who taught for many years at Minnesota State University, Moorhead.

Jane Reid, Judith's 81-year-old mother, described her daughter and Sean Ray as "my left and right arms" since her husband, John, died in 2009.

The couple would regularly make weekend trips from Minnetonka to Jane Reid's home in Albert Lea and "handled everything, from cleaning the garage to putting up a new shed."

Evan Ray, a student at Minnetonka High School, remains hospitalized in Fargo and has had two surgeries so far.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482