Great-Granny says “I’m too old for this” after $50m Lottery Win

Everyone in the world wants to win the lottery. Millions of dollars in your pocket changes everything – your quality of life, your grocery list, the car you drive and often the place you call home. But for one Canadian senior, she would have been a lot happier if it came a few decades sooner.

80 year old Lois Olsen is a great-grandmother residing in a small farm house in the quiet, rural village of Irma, Alberta. She’s lived on the farm since the late 1960’s, from the very day the house was built. She was probably more excited back when she got her first crack at indoor plumbing, than she was last month when she won the lottery for a staggering $50 million.

“I thought I was in heaven, I had running water and I had a telephone,” Ms. Olsen recalled during an interview with reporters as she picked up her big cheque, explicating the superior quality of life indoor plumbing brought to her family so many decades ago.

Lois Olsen collects $50M Lottery Cheque, photo AGLC

But now, as an overnight multi-millionaire, she’s not entirely sure what to do with it all. “For my family, it’s going to help them out a lot,” said the lucky winner. “For me, I’m too old for this. I would have liked to have won this 20 or 30 years ago.”

The only big purchase she has in mind right now is a new car. She currently drives and 11 year old sedan. “I think I’ll buy an SUV, something a little higher for me to get in and out of. That will be the big purchase,” she said.

Ms. Olsen has no desire to buy a new home or move away from her happy farming village. Irma is a quiet neighborhood, home to about 450 residents, and she’s become happily accustomed to her peaceful lifestyle; especially now that she doesn’t have to tend the animals anymore.

“I milked cows for I don’t know how many years by hand, then we finally got a milking machine,” said Ms. Olsen. “We milked cows for about 25 years. We had a bunch of pigs, we had range cattle, I raised chickens, turkeys; I had everything,” she said, explaining that is was “a lot of hard work” throughout the years.

“Money doesn’t mean a bunch to me,” she told reporters. “I had hard times,” she said, then added with a chuckle, “maybe not now.”

Although she purchases a ticket regularly, she never thought she’d actually win the lottery. She found out when she made a trip to the local grocer, and placed the ticket into one of the self-check machines. It said she’s won $15, and that didn’t sound right, so she tried again. This time the machine appeared to read $500.

“I said to the girl, ‘There’s something wrong with this machine.’” An employee offered to help and reinserted the ticket to check it again. “She says, ‘No you just won $50 million.’”

Olsen said she was utterly speechless and began shaking. Unsure what to do next, she quickly grabbed her groceries and left the store.

On her way home, she noticed a television media crew was already in Irma, asking the locals about the big lottery winner. “I dodged the media once there,” she said with a laugh. “They didn’t say anything, so I was able to escape home without anything.”

But of course, news travels fast, and picking up that $50 million checque drew the media right to her. By then, Lois didn’t mind sitting down and talking with the reporters, at least for a few minutes.