Retired human resources manager John Henry, who lives in Mississauga, and rancher Joan Patterson, who lives near Owen Sound, were both present at OLG headquarters on Wednesday to accept their prize as the sole winners of $60 million draws held on Dec. 25 and Feb. 5 respectively.
“It takes a while to sink in and I am not sure it has sunk in yet,” Henry said of his Christmas Day surprise. “I think my heart only restarted on like January 12 or so.”
“It is pretty hard to put into words. I checked my ticket a week ago at 4 p.m. in the afternoon. This is all something extremely new,” Patterson added.
Henry, who is a married father with two grown children and two grandchildren, told reporters that he is “not into material things all that much” and outside of going on a trip with his wife and doing some renovations to their home has little planned in the way of big purchases.
Instead, the Mississauga man said he will give away “most” of the winnings to several causes, including children’s athletics, children’s health and mental health.
“Where it is going to end up is not going to be with me. In that sense I guess we will blow it but we will blow it on good causes,” he said.
While Henry told reporters that he wants his life to change “as little as possible,” Patterson said she would like to splurge on a few things, including a new sports car, horse trailer and fencing for her Desboro, Ontario range.
Like Henry, though, Patterson said she wants to start a foundation and give away a lot of the money.
Some of the causes that Patterson said she may donate to include children’s hospitals, the Salvation Army and programs for animals in need.
Patterson also said that there are some friends and family that she would “like to give a little boost to.”
“This whole thing is still so new,” she said. “I have this wonderful team of a lawyer, an accountant and a financial person who have just gone above and beyond for me in terms of getting stuff in place.”
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