Lotto winner lies low

Sunday, May 07, 2006 posted 03:03 AM EDT

THE VILLAGES -- John Udick kept a $23 million secret.

People were looking for him. His neighbors were oblivious. His children never knew.

"They'll find out through the news media like everyone else," Udick said Friday as he and his wife drove home from Tallahassee after claiming half the $87.9 million Florida Lottery jackpot Udick won two weeks ago.

"We just didn't care to be in the spotlight," said Udick, 70, talking on his cell phone.

Ever since Udick's quick-pick matched the Lotto jackpot, advertised at $82 million but driven higher by ticket sales, Teresa Gladstone had been waiting for the winner to walk through the door at Circle K. The convenience store she manages in The Villages was the only clue to the retirement community's mystery multimillionaire -- Udick bought the ticket there.

"No, I don't know how to get ahold of him," Gladstone said before her "hello" as she answered the phone Friday, anticipating the question from a reporter.

All she knew was that the winner wanted to stay anonymous. She had no idea Udick had stood outside her store Friday morning but decided not to go in.

"I guess I don't blame him," Gladstone said. Neither do his neighbors, who expect him to drift out of The Village of Tall Trees neighborhood as quietly as he came into the newly constructed section of the giant retirement community last fall.

"Not telling your kids is one thing; I guess they wouldn't spread it around here," said Sylvia Mongolier, 70, who lives around the corner from the Udicks but never met them because people only started to move in around Thanksgiving.

Jewell Carpenter, 66, who lives next door to Udick's home, said the couple doesn't stay there long and the home is often rented out. Records show the Udicks also own a South Florida home in Weston.

Still, Carpenter is hoping for a block party.

The other winner matched the 12-13-17-27-32-36 combination with a ticket bought in Port St. Lucie. But that person has not come forward, lottery spokesman Alfred Bea said. Udick selected the lump-sum option that netted him $23,231,374.56 -- after taxes.

Bea said that when the Udicks presented "a very crisp ticket" in the state lottery's "winner's lounge" Friday afternoon in Tallahassee, the couple was concerned the secret would get out.

"I certainly did make a plea for them to say more," Bea said. He described them as "a very attractive couple" who "struck me as a very kind and conscientious."

With the money wired into an account, Udick headed home.

"There are always things that come up that you don't know about," Udick said from his cell phone, explaining that his low profile might avoid unforeseen problems.

Udick plans to remain retired -- from what he wouldn't say -- and continue his photography hobby. He entered three shots in the Florida State Parks' photo contest this month.

As for all the other things folks may wonder about this new multimillionaire, Udick has one answer: "I don't think my life is going to change."

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