Talk about good luck.

Barrie Edwards, the winner of the $86.3 million Powerball lottery ticket purchased at the Turkey Hill in Willow Street last week, didn't even pay for his ticket.

It was a promotion. If he purchased two Match 6 tickets, he'd get a free Powerball ticket. 

Those Match 6 tickets won him nothing, but that free Powerball Ticket sure came through.

Today, at lottery headquarters, it was announced that Edwards will take the lump sum of $42.5 million and share his good fortune with 13 other members of his family — all Lancaster County natives — who have been playing the lottery for years and made an oral agreement to share their winnings.


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Edwards, an Armstrong retiree who lives in Willow Street, was not present at the announcement, but his wife, Jean, was.

Her husband, she noted, was camera shy and at home in Willow Street "mowing the lawn."

Those 13 other relatives include his  wife and his brother and sister-in-law, Terry and Linda Edwards, also of Willow Street.

Those two couples will receive about $17.6  million (actually $17,640,882.50). 

Other family winners, who will receive $1.4 million, include Robert and Elaine Funk, of Mountville; Jeffrey and Donna Funk, also of Mountville; Melanie Funk, of Lancaster; Gerald and Lynn Hess, who live in Davidson, S.C.; K. Scott Edwards, of Lusby, Md., and Ronald and Yvonne Edwards, of Washington Boro.

All those figures represent their winnings before the 25 percent the federal government withholds.

Edwards watched the televised drawing on Saturday and saw the winning numbers: 2, 5, 28, 33, 54 and red ball 30.

He jumped up and woke up his wife.

"When he came in and turned the light on and told me, I didn't believe him," Jean Edwards said this morning. "I said, 'Yea, right, turn the light off.' "

But then the couple checked the numbers on the computer, and sure enough, they'd won. He called his brother Terry, a retired plumber, who also didn't believe him.

The families have been playing the lottery for years and always promised they'd share their winnings.

When asked if she was surprised that her brother-in-law agreed to split the winnings, Linda Edwards, 53, said no.

"He's a very honest person," she said. "We knew the verbal agreement would stand, no matter who won."

Not that they've ever won much before, even though they play a lot.

How many tickets do they buy each week?

The answer was "too many, until now."

Among the nieces and nephews who will share in the winnings, Yvonne Edwards, 46, who works at High Industries, says she plans to pay off her house. 

Melanie Funk, who works at a trust company, just found out about her good fortune on Wednesday and doesn't know what she'll be doing with the money.

Linda Edwards says she can now retire from the Jay Group.

Jean Edwards said she went to Park City Center the other day, knowing she was now a millionaire.

"I realized I could buy anything I wanted," she said this morning. "But I couldn't find anything."

The extended family is planning a trip to Disneyworld to celebrate. 

Powerball is a lottery spread over 29 states, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania joined in 2002.

Everyone who has won the Powerball lottery has chosen to take the lump sum, according to Stephanie Weyant, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, which oversees the lottery.

"No matter what you choose to do, we recommend that anyone who wins a jackpot of this size get financial help."

The Edwards win is a big jackpot, it's not a huge one in Powerball terms. The biggest payout was $340 million in 2005.

In case you're feeling lucky, there's another Powerball drawing Saturday, when the top prize will be $20 million.

And the odds are just as good as they were for Barrie Edwards: 1 to 146.1 million.


Staff writer Jane Holahan can be reached at jholahan@LNPnews.com or 481-6016.