Vacuuming through the shock of it all

By Kate Northrop

DENISON, Iowa — An Iowa man had such a nervous reaction to winning a $1 million prize in a Powerball lottery drawing that he decided to reach for the vacuum and do some household chores.

What do you do to overcome the shock of winning a million dollars in Powerball? Race back home and hide the lottery ticket? Call a loved one or friend and ask if it's real? Jump up and down and scream? For one Iowa man, the answer to processing an overwhelming load of information was to vacuum.

Ron Rothe, 73, told Iowa Lottery officials that he had spent a week driving around with the winning ticket in his glove compartment before discovering its true value. Four tickets in the nation won $1 million in the Sept. 13 Powerball drawing, and word was spreading that one of those tickets was sold in his town.

"We had heard rumors that so-and-so won, so we never really even thought about it," Rothe recalled in a press release.

A week after the drawing, he visited Kimmes Denison Country Store on Fourth Avenue South to purchase some tickets for the next three drawings. While there, he remembered to check the tickets he had bought for the previous week and handed them to the cashier.

"She comes back with the manager, a big smile on her face, sticks her hand out and goes, 'Congratulations!'" he recounted to Lottery staff. "I said, 'For what?' She goes, 'You won a million dollars!' It's like, 'OK?!'"

His Quick Pick ticket had matched all five white ball numbers — 28, 37, 42, 50, and 53 — but missed the red Powerball number 19 to win the $1 million prize.

Rothe took the ticket and the receipt showing the prize amount to his wife's hair salon to relay the news to her in person.

"She goes, 'Oh, you won a thousand dollars!'" Rothe laughed as he recalled the experience to the Lottery. "I go, 'No.' She looks again and goes, 'A million?!'"

He claimed his prize at Lottery headquarters in Clive on Sept. 29, where he revealed what he did to cope with the shock of winning.

"I went home and I was nervous, so I vacuumed," the Denison resident quipped.

Rothe has been married to his wife, Pat, for 53 years. She and him have been stumped with how to fully process such a lucky occasion.

"I'm still not sure it's really sunk in, if you want to know the truth," Pat added. "It has taken some for us to get past the basic shock."

The winnings will go a long way to fund a variety of goings-on in the couple's lives. It'll go towards home improvements, estate planning, charitable donations, and college savings for their two grandchildren.

For selling the winning ticket, the retailer receives a $1,000 bonus from the Lottery.

The next Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for the drawing on Wednesday, Oct. 8 currently stands at $223 million.

Powerball is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.

Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega website provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States' two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)Once he finished vacuuming, Ron Rothe took his lottery ticket to Iowa Lottery HQ to claim his $1 million Powerball prize.