Make it 'Ca$h Bay' after Cache Bay couple net $34-million lottery win
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A Cache Bay, Ont., couple’s Friday date night routine turned out to work in their benefit.
Joe and Lise Menard, who have been married for 36 years, ended up buying their lottery tickets on that night after dinner as usual and won the $34 million Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball draw from June 21.
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“We happened to stop at a gas station, and I had some old tickets in my purse, so I asked Joe to check them after he finished pumping the gas,”Lise told OLG.
Added Joe to OLG: “When I went in to pay for the gas, I asked the clerk to check the tickets. After seeing they weren’t winners, the clerk asked if I wanted to replay them. I usually get new tickets using Quick Pick, but this time I replayed the old ones.”
Joe claims he already had an inkling they were winners.
“When I heard on the news that the Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball ticket was sold in Northern Ontario, I had a premonition that we had the winning ticket,” he told OLG.
“It wasn’t until later that evening that Lise checked the tickets on her phone with the OLG app. Now that we’ve won this money, people may want to change the name of our small town — between Sudbury and North Bay — from Cache Bay to CA$H Bay!”
Lise said she was in disbelief when she saw the winning message on her phone. “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!”
The retired couple, who met when Joe took Lise to her high school prom, have worked hard all their lives and watched their money carefully but admit that this win will now make life a little easier for their family.
“The big thing for us was to take care of the kids the best way we can,” Lise told OLG.
“Now my kids will be taken care of — no more worries. When someone needs something, we will be there to help.”
The couple plan to travel across Canada visit each coast and stop at all the great Canadian cities in between.
Joe also wants to fulfil a promise he made to Lise all those times they were driving home from their date nights.
“I’ve always wanted to give her a dream home, and now she’s going to get it,” he told OLG.
“I’ve always dreamed of having a big harvest table so we can all sit together for family meals and entertain more during the holidays,” added Lise. “No more sitting all over the house — now we’ll be all together.”
As a retired mechanic, Joe still loves working on vintage cars and will be making a special purchase.
“Since I was 16 years old, I have been dreaming of hot rods, and now I’m going to get one!” he told OLG.
Joe also vows to replace a large fake diamond ring that he gave Lise as a joke gift for their 15th wedding anniversary, crafted from a steel nut welded on to a big novelty crystal.
“She’s going to get a real diamond ring now for putting up with me all those years,” he told OLG.
Added Lise to OLG: “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.”
The Menards bought their winning ticket at Arrowhead Gas Bar on Osprey Miikan Road on Nipissing First Nation, near North Bay.
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