ADAM JACKSON/Ponoka News
When Randy Ferner received the first phone call, he thought it was a joke.
A long-time friend’s wife, who has been known for her practical jokes, called him to congratulate him on his win of a show home in the STARS 2011 Lottery.
“I thought, ‘what the heck?’” said Randy. “I called her back and I said, ‘That’s not even funny’”.
But then more phone calls started flooding in. First from his sister, then from his younger brother, the reality started to set in; he had just won a home worth almost $1 million.
Randy then immediately called his wife, who is
a hairdresser at Rimoka and asked, “Are you standing or sitting right now?” She was washing a client’s hair at the time, so she had to call him back to get the news.
“We’re still on cloud nine,” said Randy.
Although the home, which is located in Red Deer, comes fully furnished and landscaped, Randy and his wife Patty, with whom he shares a home will be selling the house.
“We love it in Ponoka, we don’t want to leave,” said Patty.
Terry Ferner, Randy’s younger brother, called to say congratulations shortly after Randy found out and received quite a surprise.
“He said, ‘Congratulate yourself, you just won half of it!’” said Terry.
The brothers had made a deal over 20 years ago that if either of them was to win over $25,000 that they would split it in half.
“I was more or less calling to congratulate it, so I was shocked,” said Terry.
Terry, who is 44-years-old is married and is the father of four children.
“When you have kids, every bit of extra money counts,” he said.
Although Randy and his brother had been supporting the lottery and buying tickets for over 10 years, they never gave any real consideration into what they would do with that much money.
“We’re not going to buy any new vehicles or anything,” said Randy.
They had planned a weeklong vacation before the win and will do some long, hard thinking about exactly what to do with their winnings.
This year’s STARS lottery has raised over $10 million for the charity.