Widow wins $10 million with dead husband"s lotto ticket

Sunday, January 04, 2009 posted 06:41 PM EST

DANBURY, Conn. - "I'm still trying to believe it," said Charlotte Peters. The 78-year-old widow just won more than $10 million with a classic lotto ticket. But the story gets better.

"I was going to throw away the ticket because we never win," Charlotte said. "I don't know why something made me stop and check it out."

Peters still talks in terms of "we" because for decades, she says, she and her husband of nearly 60 years had been buying lottery tickets together. He died of a heart attack Nov. 1, just a few hours after he bought her the winning ticket.

Charlotte's son Brian said: "We just came up for Christmas to see how she was doing since my dad passed, and we laughed because none of us believed it was real."

"Normally if we win $2 we consider ourselves lucky," Charlotte said.

Now she can consider herself rich.

The ticket pays either a one-time payout of more than $6 million or about $500,000 annually.

The store in Danbury where Peters purchased the ticket will get a $10,000 bonus. As for Charlotte's wish list, she said: "I've always wanted a Corvette."

So, even though she won't be driving off into the sunset with her late husband, at least she can say he bought her the wheels.

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