A Story Of Hope
From USAToday.com
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — David Sneath has worked at a Ford Motor Co. parts warehouse for 34 years, but it didn’t take him any time at all to walk out once he discovered he had won a $136 million Mega Millions jackpot.
“I yelled to the boss, ‘I’m out of here,”‘ Sneath said Thursday after going to state lottery headquarters in downtown Lansing to pick up his first $1 million check.
Sneath, of Livonia in suburban Detroit, said the reality of his win has yet to sink in.
“I still haven’t touched base with Earth yet,” he said. When he saw in a newspaper that he had a winning ticket, “my whole body went numb.”
Sneath plans to buy a cottage on Mullett Lake in northern Michigan and maybe a new fishing boat or two to help him land the walleye he loves to catch. He’s tired of misplacing his glasses and may get laser surgery to correct his vision. And he’ll probably move out of his three-bedroom, two-bath ranch home, although he plans to stay in Michigan.
He’s even considering a return to Eastern Michigan University to finish his bachelor’s degree. He’s eight credits shy of a major in warehousing and a minor in international marketing.
Sneath turned 60 on Tuesday, the day he won the jackpot. Friends and relatives at first thought it was an April Fool’s joke.
“I called my sister; she didn’t believe me. I called my daughter; she thought I was nuts,” said Sneath, who said he made his first call to his ex-wife, Deborah.
Deborah, whom he called “my significant ex,” attended the Thursday news conference where Sneath was presented with a large replica of a $136 million check. His daughter was there with her daughter, as was his son, who had bought the winning ticket on his father’s behalf during trip to a gas station to get cigarettes.
Sneath plans to take a lump payment worth $84.3 million, or $59.6 million after taxes. On Thursday, he got the first $1 million; he’ll get the remainder in a second payment. At the warehouse, he made $60,000 to $70,000 a year…
Story Continues at USAToday.com
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