(NECN: Julie Loncich) - Louise White lived 81 years without ever finding her pot of gold. It turns out it was at the end of the grocery store isle among the selection of rainbow sherbet all along.
“We are truly blessed,” White said.
The Newport, Rhode Island woman, described by others as salt of the Earth, won the $336 million dollar Power ball jackpot. It was purchased at the 11th hour, before the Stop & Shop on Bellevue closed, during her trip to pick up that sherbet.
“I'm very happy and I'm very proud,” she said. “This will make my family very happy.”
White got home that January night and checked her numbers while eating that lucky snack. She and her family couldn't believe it and didn't believe it. They checked three times before that ticket and its value finally sunk in.
"It was in her Bible for the first night. And I think they slept with the Bible. The next business day, Monday morning, it was put in a safe deposit box," said family attorney Gregory Fater.
White and her son live in a little house. Her son just so happens to be well-known Newport musician LeRoy White.
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Their neighbors couldn't be happier for them.
"I was outside a couple of weeks ago, I had knee surgery, and I heard someone outside. He was like cleaning up the whole front of my house. There was like cardboard boxes outside, and I was like, 'Thanks, Man,' cleaned my whole thing up and then next week he wins the lottery. It's crazy," said neighbor Michael Pasquel.
“I think he deserves it. So ya, he's a nice guy. I think it's his time to shine,” said neighbor Billy Barber.
"It's great, it's exciting.”
White is a long-time Powerball player and proves that patience and persistence, sometimes, really do pay up big.
