84-year-old widow from Florida winner of $590 million lottery
Gloria C. MacKenzie, the 84-year-old widow from Zephyrhills, Florida, has claimed the Powerball jackpot of $590.5 million — the largest undivided lottery prize in US history at the time. (NPR)
All her life she had lived with modest means in a tin-roof house in Zephyrhills, a town of about 13,300 people 30 miles northeast of Tampa. She took the prize as a lump sum of just over $370 million, netting about $278 million after federal taxes. (Florida History Network, Ya Libnan/AP)
The lone winning ticket for the May 18 drawing was a Quick Pick bought at a Publix supermarket — and MacKenzie only bought it because another lottery player, Mindy Crandell, 34, was kind enough to let her go ahead in line.
"While in line at Publix, another lottery player was kind enough to let me go ahead of them in line to purchase the winning Quick Pick ticket," MacKenzie said in a statement read by lottery officials. (NPR, Parade)
She did not speak to the reporters assembled outside the lottery office in Tallahassee, leaving quickly with her son Scott — with whom she had agreed to split any proceeds — and two attorneys. Her statement asked for privacy for the family's benefit.
A stranger's courtesy, an 84-year-old's patience, and one winning ticket: $590 million.
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