(Charleston)….West Virginia’s newest millionaires hail from Barboursville and Julian.
Two $1-million winning Powerball tickets were purchased in West Virginia for Wednesday’s Powerball drawing. Mary Carr and her husband Harold purchased one of those at the One Stop on Route 60 in Huntington.
Mary picked up her check at the West Virginia Lottery headquarters Friday morning. She says she didn’t win the big prize, but she more than happy with what she got.
Mary says she and her husband are just your average West Virginians. They’ve played the lottery on a regular basis for 30 years. But she says she never imagined they’d win this big.
Carr describes what happened at her house when she and her husband realized they had a winning ticket.
“His hand were shaking and I said, ‘What’s wrong with you today?’ And he says, ‘Nothing, nothing.’ Then he said to me, ‘I think we won.’ And I said, ‘What did we win?’ He said, ‘I think we won the lottery!'”
Sure enough, when they checked their ticket it had 5 of the 6 winning numbers.
And they’re not alone. Doug Gillispie, a retired coal miner, purchased the other $1 million ticket in Boone County at the Julian Mini Mart with 5 correct numbers. Gillispie came forward Friday evening to pick up his check.
He said if it wasn’t for his youngest son calling him and saying somebody won at the Mini Mart, he probably would have never known.
“He told me what the numbers were and when I checked my numbers I called him back and asked him if those are the right numbers,” said Gillispie. “He said yes and I said well it’s me.”
Gillispie said he has been playing the lottery since it began and has used the same numbers the whole time. It’s been so long he can’t remember what the numbers represent.
Gillispie is splitting the winnings with his children: Chad Gillispie, Todd Gillispie and Tiffany Price. All currently reside in Julian.
When asked what they are going first do with the money, the kids said pay some bills, but dad had a different plan.
“I’m going to get my boat motor fixed,” said Gillispie.
As for the other winning ticket holder, Carr says she doesn’t have big plans for the money. “Just pay my bills.”
This is the first time in West Virginia Lottery history that two Powerball tickets worth $1-million each were sold at separate locations in the state for the same drawing.