If you’re one of those people who believes there are no accidents in life, then the story of Victoria Ethridge is right up your alley! The 52-year-old Salina woman had a $30,000 day, quite by accident.
“I went into the store and asked for two $2 instant scratch tickets,” said Ethridge. “The store clerk accidentally pulled off two $5 Star Trek tickets that I hadn’t asked for. She apologized and offered to take them back, but I said I’d keep them. ‘They might be lucky,’ I told her.”
One of the tickets was indeed lucky, lucky beyond her belief! Suddenly she found herself holding a $5 Star Trek ticket with a $30,000 top prize!
“I was alone in the house when I scratched it, and what a shock!” said Ethridge. The happy winner found her good fortune two days after Christmas, but she waited until now to make the trip to Topeka to claim the ticket.
“I was trying to figure out what to do with it,” she said with a laugh. “I took good care of it, believe me. It was in my purse and I kept the purse beside me at all times. I only let my husband touch the ticket once.”
Ethridge and her husband Robin have four grown children and 11 grandchildren between them. Ethridge works as a janitor at Genesis in Salina. She plans to use the prize money to buy a car and make some investments.
Ethridge bought her $30,000 instant scratch ticket at Kwik Shop 739, located at 1600 S. 9th Street in Salina.
