Wanda English Burnett, Editor

“I never expected it in my wildest dreams,” Karen Simpkins of Milan, told the Osgood Journal, after she found out she had been a lucky winner in last Wednesday’s Powerball drawing. “I bought one Powerball ticket, and two scratch-offs last Monday,” she said. She didn’t win anything on the scratch-offs and didn’t expect anything would come of the other purchase. But, when she took her ticket back to have it checked, “the machine kept clicking and then it said the winnings were more than could be paid out locally,” Simpkins said. She would later learn she had won $200,000.

Simpkins, who has been home recuperating, said she will return to her job, and her husband, Dave, will keep working at Crum Trucking, and they will probably upgrade her 1998 vehicle, but not buy a new one. “The majority of that money will be for our son’s college,” she noted. The couple’s son, Sam, is a fifth grader at Milan Elementary and will have a lot to celebrate on his 12th birthday this Sunday. He wants to go to Notre Dame and “be on the football field.”

The Milan resident had purchased the winning ticket from K&K Mini Mart, at 1000 North Warpath Drive. Her husband, Dave, said he thought the house had burned down when she called him. “She called me and was crying,” he noted. Both were still somewhat in shock on Monday as Karen said she “just couldn’t believe it.” She noted that just a couple of weeks ago she had told her sister she didn’t need to win millions, just $100,000.”

SUBMITTED PHOTO Karen Simpkins, Milan, is pictured with son, Sam, and husband, Dave holding their $200,000 check from the Hoosier Lottery.