Brackendale resident Marlene Everett had heard before she went to the B.C. Lottery Corp. (BCLC) ticket centre at Wal-Mart on Thursday (Sept. 1) to check her tickets that a ticket sold in Squamish had won the Lotto 6/49 draw.
Still, it came as a complete shock to the 65-year-old and her husband, Wilfred, when the screen at the centre flashed with the words, "Winner $3.3 million."
"I bought the ticket Tuesday evening (Aug. 30) just before the man that looks after the lottery centre there - we call him Mr. Bock -went home," Everett told The Chief from the BCLC office in Vancouver on Friday (Sept. 2). "He's an amazing man; he remembers everyone who comes in there."
After Mr. Bock checked the ticket on Thursday, "It was quite a shock. I just froze because he came around the corner and he came and gave me a hug and he said, 'Congratulations,' and said he was so happy for me," Everett said.
"My husband was there too and he was stunned."
Everett said she often buys the Lotto 6/49 ticket "Jumbo Pack" when the jackpots are large. Such tickets include nine numbers, and Everett said she believes it was the final number on the ticket that won $3.386 million in the Aug. 31 draw.
The win was the fourth major Lotto 6/49 jackpot to be won in B.C. in August. The other three were for $7 million, $7.2 million and $3.3 million, respectively, BCLC officials said in a statement.
The Everetts have lived in the same home in Brackendale since 1976. They did some renovations to their house in 1991-'92 after Wilfred suffered a workplace injury. He's now wheelchair-bound, but has his wife of 41 years looking after him, Marlene said.
They now plan to do some more renovations - "I want some things changed, so we'll work on that slowly," she said - and take a trip to Winnipeg to visit friends.
Aside from that, she said in the BCLC statement, "My husband and I need to let it sink in," Everett said, "but one thing's for sure - retirement just got a whole lot better."
