83-year-old great grandmother shocked by her $60 million Lotto Max win
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Vera Page, 83, knew what her first purchase would be when she won $60 million in Canada’s lottery.
“I am getting new hearing aids!” said the Vankleek Hill, Ontario great grandmother.
Vera has been playing the lottery for about 40 years, and as usual she bought her regular ticket while she was doing her weekly food shopping.
“When the staff at my retirement home rescheduled our weekly trip, I got on my motorized scooter and went to the store myself,” said the 83-year-old great-grandmother.
“As I was checking out, I remembered to buy my two Lotto Max and two Lotto 6/49 tickets, both with Encore.”
When she returned home she put the tickets under her home computer until draw time.
She heard on the news that a winner had been announced in the Prescott and Russell area.
So at that point Vera decided to check her tickets against the winning numbers.
“Okay, first number, okay. Second number, okay. Third number? Well, okay that’s a free ticket, that’s good,” Vera remembered.
“Then I go to the fourth number and I said, ‘Oh, there’s something wrong here.'”
The numbers were 02, 23, 27, 34, 43, 46, 49, and 44.
When she suddenly realized that she had all the winning numbers, she immediately called her son, but it was late in the evening by then.
“It was close to 9 pm when I called my son, Trevor, but he didn’t answer his phone,” she said.
Undeterred, she called her family until she finally got a hold of her daughter-in-law.
“But she didn’t believe me and told me to go to sleep,” laughed Page.
Her son eventually arrived at her apartment the following day.
“I told him that we have to go to Foodland where I bought the ticket to validate it and make sure I wasn’t seeing things,” said Page.
“We were in such a rush that I put on a pair of pants over my nightgown, threw on a jacket, and went to the store half-dressed.”
“When I gave my ticket to the clerk, the bells and whistles went off and the clerk yelled that I had won big!”
“I felt very calm for some reason,” she said, adding that she’s also been trying to keep the rest of her family calm since they learned about the news.
“They are extremely happy for me.”
Page says she wants to buy some land on the Ottawa River and build a double-family house for herself and her son's family.
She also wants to experience an Alaskan cruise and wants to spend winters in a warmer place.
"The winters in eastern Ontario are cold so I would like to spend them in a warmer climate. But the summers are wonderful, so I want to get a big boat that many people can sleep on and tour the Ottawa River," she said.
"Most importantly, I will share my winnings with my family. I want to take care of their futures.”
