WALDEN – A Walden couple are the $7 million winners in the September 12 Cash4Life drawing of the New York State Lottery.
Jon and Deborah Hansen have opted to take a one-time lump sum payment and will each receive a net check for $2.35 million after required withholdings.
Both husband and wife intend to continue working.
The winning ticket was purchased at Stewarts Shops on East Main Street in Walden. The winning numbers of 10-15-35-42-54 and Cash Ball of 03 were computer generated.
Jon, who stopped by the shop the day before the drawing for milk, purchased the winning ticket.
When they realized they might have won, they went back to the store, Jon said.
“We scanned the ticket here and it said we won, but it didn’t say what we won. So we sat in the car and I brought up the website and it brought up all the numbers. We were speechless. I had a rush of adrenalin; my head got light,” he said.
The couple intends to travel to a number of places, said Deborah.
“I love to travel,” she said, noting she would like to go to Bermuda, Europe and Hawaii.
Jon, a state employee, also went all out on an SUV with all the bells and whistles.
“We were thinking of buying some laptops before we won and weren’t sure how we were going to swing it, so after we won we just went and got them,” Jon explained.
Deborah, who works in the corporate office of the Salvation Army, was the one who originally discovered the ticket was the big winner. Having returned home before Jon the day after the drawing, she saw a Facebook post that someone in Walden has won the $1,000 a day.
“I compared the numbers on the Facebook post to the numbers on the paper on our fridge and saw they were the same,” she said. “I just thought, ‘wow this guy posting this on Facebook is messing with me, how did he know my numbers’?”
To be sure, Deborah checked lottery website, again confirming they had won. “I sat in the car and screamed,” Deborah said. “The feeling is just surreal,” Jon added.
