Three longtime Victoria friends are together in retirement after winning $3.6 million in Saturday’s Lotto 6/49 draw.
Mary Grills, 63, was already retired, and is being joined by 65-year-old Bev Allaire and 56-year-old Trish Little.
The winning ticket was bought at a gas station at Quadra Street and McKenzie Avenue, Little said.
“We’ve been playing the same numbers for 22 years,” Little said. “The actual winning numbers were Mary’s pick of numbers. It was her birthdate, her husband’s birthdate, and both her son and daughter’s ages and her and her husband’s ages 22 years ago.”
Little and Grills have been friends for 38 years, and they have known Allaire for 23 years. They all worked together at Saanich Peninsula Hospital until Grills retired about six years ago from her job as a porter, which includes such tasks as moving patients from place to place.
Little and Allaire were already leaning toward retirement themselves — Little from her job as a clerk in the emergency department and Allaire from her job as a licensed practical nurse — but the lottery win makes it official.
“I’m on holidays, actually, until the end of April and Bev gave her two weeks notice,” Little said. “She was going to retire at the end of April, anyway, and I had already phoned the pension people to get my package because I’ve been working at the hospital for 37 years”
Each of them gets $1.2 million “and change” from the windfall, Little said
Grills, who is married with two children and five grandchildren, will be using her money to help her family. Allaire, who is single, and Little, who is widowed, will be doing a lot of travelling.
Allaire is also set to pay off her mortgage.
The women found out they had won when Grills’ husband checked the numbers on Saturday night. He told her when she got home from babysitting one of the grandchildren, and Little was called soon after at 11:30 p.m.
“I was in bed sleeping and couldn’t believe it,” Little said.
Little and Allaire were both working the next day, so Grills came to the hospital and Allaire was told by both friends.
“It’s very surreal,” Little said of the win.
The total jackpot was $7.2 million. The Victoria trio split that total with another ticket bought on PlayNow.com Manitoba, which is operated by the B.C. Lottery Corporation.
