A New Hampton man says he was calm today as he claimed a $500,000 lottery prize. But he admits that was definitely not the case when he first realized he’d won big!
Kevin Frey says he was so thrown off by his win that he left his winning ticket behind in the store. He was out in his car, calling and texting his family with the news, when one of his adult children asked him to send a photo of the winning ticket. That’s when he realized he didn’t have it.
Frey says he ran back into the store and asked the clerk for the ticket. She also had been so flustered, she just put it down beside the lottery terminal. Frey says they finally got on the right page!
Frey is 64 and a long-time New Hampton pastor. He bought his winning ticket at Casey’s, 615 N. Linn Ave. in New Hampton and claimed the 8th of 14 top prizes in the "$500,000 Ca$h" scratch game.
So why did his son want to see a picture of the winning ticket? Frey admits that his children know he can tell a pretty good tale. But in this case, the tall tale was true!
Frey says that he and his wife, Marian, have talked about moving to the Des Moines area when they retire to be closer to family, and his lottery win will help with that along with other long-term plans and investments. He says it will be fun to share some of their winnings with family and to support the charities to which they’ve made donations for years.
Frey says he was able to lead church services on Sunday as if nothing was out of the ordinary – and those in the congregation said he did a nice job on the sermon!
Congratulations, Kevin. You deserve it. Remember the fun we had in "Damn Yankees". Good time had by all. Congrats again. Karen Schwickerath
Posted by: Karen Schwickerath | February 21, 2024 at 12:57 PM