Louise White, a “vivacious” 81-year-old of Newport, Rhode Island, stepped forward as the winner of $336 million dollars in the third largest Powerball lottery of all time.
“I want to say that I’m very happy and I’m very proud. This will make my family very happy,” she said. “We are truly blessed. Thank you.” White took her bonanza calmly, speaking briefly and then leaving the crowded news conference for her new team of attorneys to handle.
She said in a statement that was handed out at the news conference that she was waiting that Saturday, Feb. 11, with a grocery list for someone to take her to the store. In her list was a Powerball ticket in time for the evening’s drawing. She said she the person who was supposed to take her that morning “was working all day at home and couldn’t get away.”
“Then around (7 p.m.) a family member wanted some rainbow sherbert to eat later, so they decided to go to the Stop N Shop,” White wrote in a statement.
The funds will go to the Rainbow Sherbert Trust, named after the dessert that she purchased last month while buying the lottery ticket, although the correct spelling is sherbet.
A family spokesman said the winning ticket was kept in White’s Bible — which she then slept with — until she could get to a bank and put it in a safe deposit box.
White chose to accept the lump sum payment of $210 million, rather than the 30 annuity payments paid out over 29 years. White will pay about $52.5 million in federal taxes and $14.7 million in state taxes.
