Vernon lottery winners Diana Cools and Neil Remsbery.
Image Credit: BCLC
December 22, 2015 - 5:10 PM
VERNON - While most people only dream of winning the lottery, Vernon couple Diana Cools and Neil Remsbery have won it twice, most recently a $500,000 win on the Nov. 6, 2015, Lotto Max Extra draw.
Their last win was in 1993, a $50,000 BC/49 win that helped start their lives together. Now 22 years later, the couple says the extra ‘0’ will help change their lives.
“I was checking my tickets five days after the draw when I realized I had won. I felt faint and overwhelmed and I couldn’t believe I had won,” Cools says in a media release. “I will never forget the feeling when I found out I was a big winner.”
Cools waited almost six weeks before cashing in her winning ticket because she wanted to wait for Remsbery to get home from working up North.
“I was a nervous wreck carrying around that ticket,” she says. “But I wanted this to be something fun we did together.”
“I couldn’t believe we won,” Remsbery says. “We have been struck by lightning twice.”
And they will continue on in hopes of a third strike.
“Hopefully we don’t have to wait another 22 years,” Cools says.
The Vernon residents don’t have any immediate plans for the money, but plan to celebrate with a relaxing dinner together.
The winning ticket was purchased at the Chevron on 32 Street in Vernon.
There will be $95 million up for grabs in the next Lotto Max draw on Dec. 25, 2015 with an estimated $60 million jackpot and 35 individual Maxmillion prizes of $1 million.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015