Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 12, 1993 TAG: 9303120278
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE SIMPSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
DOUBLE LUCK IN ROANOKE
Robert and Rebecca Graham of Northwest Roanoke don't quite know what to do with the $3.1 million they won in Wednesday's Virginia Lottery."It's a little too soon to know," Rebecca Graham said. "We were just shocked. It's really scary to think all the sudden we had that kind of money."
The Grahams held one of two winning tickets bought in Roanoke in Wednesday's $9.3 million Virginia Lotto jackpot. The other Roanoke winner hadn't come forward.
The third ticket was bought in Virginia Beach by a Gulfport, Fla., couple who were visiting their daughter in Virginia. George Parker and his wife received their first check Thursday for $106,094.34 after taxes. "We're going back home to Florida and will be able to play a little more golf," Parker said.
Robert Graham, 59, said he wants to use the money to make some improvements on his home and that he and his wife of 33 years, plan to visit their daughter in Memphis, Tenn.
"We have three grown children," said Rebecca Graham, 52. "We could help them out."
The Grahams watched the lottery on television on Wednesday. "But we didn't ever look at [the ticket]," Graham said.
"My husband was up early [Thursday] morning getting ready for work when he checked the paper," Rebecca Graham said. "He woke me up - I didn't know what I was going to encounter - and said, `You need to help me check these numbers. I think we won.' And sure enough, it was the numbers."
The Grahams, who usually play their children's birth dates, bought $8 worth of "Easy Pick" tickets, including the winning ticket, Wednesday night at Stop In Food Stores, Inc. on Plantation Road. The winning numbers were 9-11-14-21-35-40.
The couple have been buying about $3 worth of tickets for years. But this was the first time they ever won a large sum.
It is also the first time that Stop In Food Stores has ever had a big winner in Virginia, said Manager Chuck King, who sold the winning ticket to Graham.
The Grahams said they will continue working for now. Rebecca Graham is the assistant office manager at Woodson Pontiac Honda. But Graham, who works in the shipping department of General Electric Co. Inc., added, "I'm going to quit in the summer."
"If I could take this money and buy my health back, that's what I would do," said Rebecca Graham, who has diabetes and arthritis. "We're just mighty happy. We'll be able to spend more time together.
"You dream about it, but you never really think you'll win."