$ 759 million Powerball winner: ‘ Pipe dream came true’
Woman, 53, says she won’t be in for work
A Massachusetts hospital worker who considered winning the lottery a “pipe dream” cashed in the most valuable ticket in U. S. history Thursday, hours after her numbers came up for the $ 758.7 million Powerball jackpot.
“My pipe dream came true,” Mavis Wanczyk of Chicopee said at a news conference Thursday afternoon, adding that the first thing she wants to do is “hide in my bed.”
Wanczyk, 53, said she worked for Mercy Medical Center in Springfield for 32 years.
“I called them and told them I will not be coming back,” she said, laughing.
She said she and a co- worker checked their numbers at work Wednesday night after the drawing. She said she was so rattled when she realized she won, she was nervous about driving. Her co- worker followed her home.
Wanczyk, who has a 31- year- old daughter and a 26- year- old son, said her good fortune began to sink in Thursday.
“I have come down from all that,” she said. “I want to just be me, be alone and figure out what I want to do.”
Wanczyk, who chose to take a lump sum of $ 480 million before taxes, bought the ticket Wednesday afternoon at a Pride market in Chicopee, 90 miles west of Boston. Early Thursday, the lottery agency had said the winning ticket was sold at a convenience store outside Boston.
The first announcement sent the news media to Handy Variety in Watertown. Handy Variety owner Kamaljeet Kaur took the updated news well, con- sidering she had been set to collect $ 50,000 for selling the big winner. “I’m OK ... still happy,” she told The Boston
Globe. Her solace: The store will receive $ 10,000 for selling a $ 1 million winning ticket. State lottery Executive Director Michael Sweeney apologized for the confusion. He blamed a transcription error.
Bob Boduc, who owns the Chicopee store, said he didn’t find out his store sold the ticket until he got calls from national networks. He said he would contribute the store’s $ 50,000 to local charities. “It’s really pretty amazing,” he said. “It could have happened anywhere in the country.”
The winning numbers: 6- 7- 16- 23- 26 with a Powerball of 4.