Iowa Couple Claims $202M Powerball Jackpot - East Idaho News
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Iowa Couple Claims $202M Powerball Jackpot

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Getty N 110311 PowerballLotto?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1349449826059William Thomas Cain/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Mary and Brian Lohse of Bondurant, Iowa, walked into the Iowa Lottery headquarters on Thursday as a medical technician and attorney, respectively, and parents to three children.  They exited the headquarters in a stretch limousine after claiming their prize as sole winners of a $202.1 million Powerball jackpot.

Mary Lohse, 42, who bought the winning Powerball ticket last week at a local Casey’s General Store where she stopped for gas, didn’t think she had won the grand prize.

“I have the last three numbers and I was like, ‘Well, crap, I think I won at least 100 bucks,” she said at a news conference Thursday.

Once she saw all the numbers and believed it herself, she had an even harder time convincing her husband, who was out of town for work.

He told her to “go see our attorney,” if she was telling the truth.  When Mary sent him a text message asking for directions to their attorney’s office, he knew their lives had changed.

“I figured perhaps she wasn’t pulling my leg,” Brian Lohse, 43, said.

The couple, as sole winners, chose a one-time payment that reduced the gross prize to $129.8 million.  After taxes, the couple — parents to kids ages 15, 11 and 8 — collected a check for $90.9 million.

“We’ve certainly been blessed beyond what we ever thought we would be,” said Brian Lohse, who, in addition to his position as an attorney at a Des Moines insurance company, also serves on the Bondurant City Council.

Both Brian and Mary, who works as a certified medical assistant at the pediatric clinic of a medical center in Des Moines, have taken a leave of absence from their jobs.

They told reporters Thursday that they plan to pay off their student loans, build a new house and buy new cars — a first for Mary.  Her husband has already splurged on new shoes, the Des Moines Register reported.

They also plan to give some of their winnings to charity, establish their own foundation and donate to their local church and schools.

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