Joe and Lise Menard couldn’t know that their usual Friday date night would turn them into multimillionaires.
The northern Ontario couple, married for 36 years, would bring in the weekend with a restaurant meal before buying a lottery ticket.
On June 21 it finally paid off with a $34 million Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball jackpot for the couple from Cache Bay, about 400 kilometres north of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½. Â
“I almost had a heart attack. I kept saying ‘Joe! Joe! Joe!’ At first, he thought we had won $34,000 and I kept telling him to look at the all the zeros!†Lise told Ontario Lottery and Gaming.Â
The couple, who met at their high school prom, got the ticket from their local gas station. “I usually get new tickets using Quick Pick, but this time I replayed the old ones,†said Joe.Â
“When I heard on the news that the Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball ticket was sold in northern Ontario, I had a premonition that we had the winning ticket,†he added. “It wasn’t until later that evening that Lise checked the tickets on her phone with the OLG app.â€
Their first instinct was to tell their children, who are now adults.
“They thought we were playing a joke on them, but when I sent them a screenshot of the $34 million message from the OLG app, they started screaming,†Lise remembers.Â
The couple say they’ve always been penny pinchers with dreams of travelling across the country. Now they can dream a little bigger.
“Joe’s favourite saying is ‘What Momma wants, Momma gets.’ Even though we didn’t have much, he’s always given me what I wanted and has never shied away. He’s my best friend, and he will always be,†said an emotional Lise.Â
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Joe gets to fulfil two promises he made to his wife: a dream home with enough space for big family meals and replacing a large, fake diamond ring given to Lise on their 15th wedding anniversary. The ring was made from a steel nut welded onto a novelty crystal. Lise wears it proudly.Â
“She’s going to get a real diamond ring now for putting up with me all those years,†Joe said.
A retired mechanic who works on vintage cars, Joe will also get to satisfy his 16-year-old dream of buying a hot rod. More importantly, they will be able to give their kids a safety net.
“The big thing for us was to take care of the kids the best way we can,†said Lise. “Now my kids will be taken care of — no more worries. When someone needs something, we will be there to help.â€
Kristjan Lautens is a staff reporter, working out of the Star’s
radio room in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½. Reach him via email: klautens@thestar.ca
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