82-year-old cafeteria worker’s dream to be debt-free comes true after NC lottery win
.jpg "“I’m still shaking. I’ve never had a check with that much money,” she said. (AP Photo/Sara D. Davis)")
Martha Dixon, a part-time school cafeteria worker in North Carolina, has long wanted to be debt-free, and able to help others.
At age 82, she can now live her dream.
Dixon, a resident of Goldsboro, won the $25,000 a year for life prize in her Lucky for Life drawing in the North Carolina lottery, officials announced in a July 7 news release. The prize left her shaking, she said.
“This has always been my dream,” Dixon told lottery officials. “I’m still nervous.”
Dixon bought her ticket at the Save More in Goldsboro, lottery officials said, and matched all five white balls in the June 29 drawing. The odds of winning the prize are 1 in 1.8 million, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery.
Instead of choosing $25,000 a year for life, Dixon took out the lump sum of $276,772 after taxes, lottery officials said.
“I’m still shaking. I’ve never had a check with that much money,” Dixon told lottery officials.
The cafeteria worker plans to use her winnings to help her church, repair her home, pay off bills, invest and help others, according to lottery officials.
Goldsboro is about 53 miles southeast of Raleigh.
