LANSING, mich. — A supervisor at a Michigan fiberglass factory who won a $310.5 million Powerball jackpot said Tuesday that she immediately quit her one-time “nasty, dirty” job and will buy land to build houses for her family.
Julie Leach of Three Rivers said she was having a “really bad night” working the third shift when she took her lunch break at McDonald’s. She checked the six numbers in the drive-thru line around 1 a.m. Thursday.
“I keep going to sleep and waking up with the same beautiful dream,” the 50-year-old told reporters during a news conference at the Michigan Lottery headquarters. Her partner of 36 years, Vaughn Avery, and some of their children and grandchildren looked on.
She took a one-time lump payment of $197.4 million, about $140 million after taxes.
Avery, 53, said he had asked Leach to marry him several times over the years but she never really wanted marriage after seeing friends of theirs divorce.
“I said he’d have to sign a prenup now,” she joked.
The Associated Press
