Jerry McCrank and Deborah Connors just got home from grocery shopping when their phone rang Tuesday afternoon.
The couple's winning ticket, 007987, was drawn on CTV's News at Noon show on Tuesday, making them the grand-prize winners of CHEO's Dream of a Lifetime Lottery.
Although they didn't believe it at first; a few hours later they were sitting in a $1.5-million luxury home in Manotick that now belongs to them.
The couple admits they completely forgot the draw was on Tuesday. They buy tickets to the lottery each year. But this year, they decided to increase their odds by buying three tickets.
In past draws, they won a pair of binoculars. This year, they are the grand-prize winners of a fully-furnished luxury home, $100,000 in cash, a new 2011 Buick Enclave CX AWD, groceries from Farm Boy for a year, house cleaning for a year, and a year of golf.
McCrank and Connors retired in Ottawa from Edmonton about six years ago before they moved to Gatineau.
McCrank was a vice-president at a gold mine in Edmonton. His wife was an occupational health nurse at the mine site.
While McCrank calls himself a ‘car guy', Connors likes to be in the kitchen. They don't have any children.
More than 62,000 tickets were sold in this year's lottery. The rules state residents outside Ontario can purchase tickets as long as they buy those tickets in Ontario.
The second-prize winner is from Orleans. The owners of ticket, 012945, will take home $100,000 in cash, a new Buick LaCrosse CXL, a Mediterranean cruise, and $5,000 in gift cards to the Bayshore Shopping Centre.
