DATE: Monday, August 11, 1997               TAG: 9708110058

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: Correspondent Jane Harper researched and wrote this report. 

                                            LENGTH:   52 lines

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO. . . THE $21.4 MILLION LOTTO WINNER?

In June 1991, Charlotte Jones, a nurse from Shad Point, Md., won $21.4 million from the Virginia Lottery. The Virginian-Pilot published a six-part series soon afterward, ``Charlotte's Millions,'' detailing how this long-time bargain-hunter's life had changed.

Six years after becoming a multimillionaire, Charlotte Jones still clips coupons, hunts for bargains, plays Bingo and hangs out with the same crowd.

But she doesn't have to worry about bills so much anymore. And she has a lot more time and money since she quit her job and saw her income skyrocket.

``I'm not comfortable with a high-falutin lifestyle,'' Jones explained. ``I'm a dungaree type of person; that's my kind of living.''

Jones still lives in the same house. It's just two doors down from the one she grew up in and close to the rest of her family.

``People always ask me, `Where did you move to?' and I tell them: `From the dining room chair to the living room chair,' '' Jones said with a chuckle.

Her only major purchases: a 1992 Cadillac (which she's still driving), bought shortly after she won, and a 348-acre farm in Somerset County, which she bought at an auction in 1993 and has been fixing up ever since.

``That was the best thing I did with any of the money,'' she said of her farm.

``It's so quiet and beautiful out there.'' Jones and her family spend a lot of time there, fishing and crabbing off the pier they added to the property.

She also enjoys going to auctions to look for collectibles for herself and her family. Jones especially likes frogs, paper weights and banks.

Jones, 55 and single, said she spends a lot of her money and time on travel. The only trip she has made outside of the United States was to the Bahamas. But she's hoping to go to Australia soon with a friend.

What Jones was most sorry to report was the death of her sister, Margaret, who died of leukemia in 1994 at the age of 64. Margaret and Charlotte were housemates and frequent traveling companions.

``I didn't do anything for a year,'' while Margaret was sick, Jones said.

She still enjoys gambling. She travels to casinos occasionally, plays Bingo once a week and continues to buy lottery tickets once or twice a month. ``I'm trying to win enough to pay all my taxes,'' she said.

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Charlotte Jones became a multimillionaire six years ago when she won

the Virginia Lottery. Her coupon-clipping, bingo-playing routine,

she says, hasn't changed that much.

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