An aide to a Queens congressman crashed her car in Jackson Heights while driving home from a holiday dinner, killing her passenger and injuring another person early yesterday morning, police officials said.

The driver, Eileen Gillespie, 69, was charged with driving while intoxicated and vehicular manslaughter, police said. She was driving the wrong way down a one-way street when the collision occurred, police said.

Ms. Gillespie was driving southbound on 69th Street when her 1996 Honda Accord collided with a 2003 Lincoln Towncar just as it was crossing the intersection at 35th Avenue, police said. Ms. Gillespie then swerved into a third parked car south of the intersection on 69th Street and came to a stop. The Towncar’s driver, who police didn’t identify, had minor injuries, police said.

Paramedics rushed Margaret Bartichek, 74, to Elmhurst General Hospital, but she was pronounced dead on arrival. Ms. Gillespie was also taken to the hospital, where she was in stable condition yesterday.

A spokesman for the Queens district attorney’s office said Ms. Gillespie wouldn’t be arraigned on the charges until she leaves the hospital. She is a part-time district representative for Rep. Joseph Crowley, a spokesman, Rohit Mahajan, said.

The holiday dinner was held in Queens and attended by about 20 people, Mr. Mahajan said.

In a statement yesterday, Mr. Crowley called Bartichek a “dedicated employee and dear personal friend.” She served as a part-time district representative for 18 years before retiring last December. Two sons and two grandsons survive her, he said.

“She was a strong presence in the lives of so many people she helped through her work until her retirement last year,” Mr. Crowley said. “Peggy attended my wedding and the baptisms of my children. … Peggy will be terribly missed.”