Rural Dunkirk couple won $30 million

Thirty years ago this week, a Jay County family hit the jackpot.

The March 5, 1993, edition of The Commercial Review featured a story about Wendell and Betty Addington of rural Dunkirk, who split a $60 million Powerball jackpot with another winner.

Wendell, the story begins, skipped work that Friday. But he was still planning to drive a fun bus to the boys basketball sectional tournament that evening.

“We’ve got to wait until the numbness wears off,” said Addington, 64, a Richland Township farmer and bus driver. “Everything happened so fast. It’s hard to believe. You read about those things happening, but you don’t really think of it happening at home.”

Their lottery win came less than a week after Douglas and Terri Smitley of Dunkirk won $100,000 in a Powerball drawing.

The winning numbers were 5, 9, 15, 16 and 26, with a Powerball of 44. Wendel bought the ticket at Ludwig’s Supermarket in Dunkirk.

The other winner was Millie Bond of Cameron, Missouri.

The Addington’s planned to share the jackpot with their children Brian Addington, Randy Addington, Nancy Fulkerson and Jone Snider, splitting an annual $1,067,284 check (after taxes) six ways.

Ludwig’s owners Jerry and Barbara Ludwig traveled to Indianapolis with the Addingtons on March 4, 1993, in a pair of limousines to receive a giant check at Hoosier Lottery Headquarters in Indianapolis. The Ludwigs got a $100,000 commission for selling the ticket.

Wendell said he checked his numbers in the newspaper about 9:30 a.m. on March 4 and realized he had a winner. He immediately called Randy and Brian, who operated Addington Farm Equipment. The sons rushed to the house, thinking there was an emergency.

“He says, ‘Look at that. Look at that,’” said Brian. “I must have looked at that ticket 20 or 30 times.”