Hilda Patterson spent the last 10 years of her life helping women hide the scars of cancer under wigs and behind surgical bras.

In the process, she helped them regain a sense of normalcy.

Patterson, the owner of Wig Mart Reflections, died Tuesday after a fire in her Southwest Roanoke County house. She was 65.

Hundreds of cancer survivors came to know Patterson while trying on wigs or being fitted for breast prostheses at her shop in Brammer Village off Peters Creek Road.

"Everybody was family to her," said Kathy Cruff, Patterson's only employee. "You get attached. You try not to, but you do."

Patterson had been sick and was at her home in the 3400 block of Bunker Hill Drive, just off Brambleton Avenue, when an electrical fire broke out in the floor joists between the basement and first floor.

Firefighters found Patterson unconscious on the kitchen floor and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. She later died of smoke inhalation at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Fire investigators found one smoke detector on the first floor, but it did not have a battery in it, said Roanoke County Fire and Rescue spokeswoman Jennifer Conley Sexton.

Wednesday morning at the wig shop, Cruff fielded phone calls from shocked customers.

"She was a godsend to everyone," Cruff said.

When women came into the store, they were usually devastated over their diagnosis or recent surgery.

"By the time we were done, they were laughing," Cruff said. "It gave them a sense of being a lady again."

Patterson never had cancer, but her mother did, according to a story about the store that was published in The Roanoke Times in 2006.

Patterson opened the store in part because she remembered that when she took her mother to look for wigs, there was no personal touch.

"It was like, 'Here's what you got,' " Patterson was quoted as saying in the 2006 story.

Cruff was not sure if the store would remain open. She said the decision likely will fall to Patterson's daughter, Teresa Lewis, who did not want to be interviewed Wednesday.

Patterson bought the store with her husband, William Patterson, in 1998. He died in September.

Being a business owner and helping people was like a dream for Patterson, Cruff said.

"It was the greatest reward she could contribute to someone -- to help them get past the hardship in their life," she said.