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Cecil County woman sleeps with valuable Maryland Lottery ticket under her pillow
Barbara Cunningham came into Lottery Headquarters early this afternoon with a $100,000 winning scratch-off ticket clutched tightly in her hands. Mrs. Cunningham, an 81-year-old Port Deposit resident, said she’d been a “nervous wreck” since confirming her win and was excited to hand the ticket over to a Lottery employee. “I can finally calm down,” she said with a smile.
The married mother-of-five, grandmother-of-nine and great-grandmother-of-six said she bought her ticket while grocery shopping and started to scratch it off once she sat in her car. Cunningham realized she had a winning ticket in her hands but was too excited to finish scratching – she rushed home and asked her husband to finish the job. “We thought we had won $100,000 but just didn’t believe it,” the lucky winner said. “I called my daughter and asked her to come over and verify the win – we finally believed it after she checked it six times!” Cunningham was so concerned about losing the ticket that she slept with it under her pillow.
Mrs. Cunningham, who was accompanied to Lottery Headquarters by two of her children, said that the money will be helpful to she and her husband. Her husband, a U.S. Navy veteran, suffers from emphysema and needs constant care. They had been particularly concerned about finances lately and this came “just at the right time.” While most of the money will be used for expenses, Mrs. Cunningham is looking forward to celebrating her upcoming wedding anniversary by throwing a big party for friends and family. “We will have been married for 65 years this September,” she said. “And I want to celebrate with everyone we know and love.”
The winning ticket was purchased at Martin’s Food Market, located in Rising Sun Towne Center in Rising Sun, Maryland.