By Jolene Farley
Curt and Melissa Bly, Hills, hit the $100,000 jackpot in a Saturday, Feb. 22, Powerball lottery drawing.
Curt was unaware he held a winning ticket until he stopped to purchase a soda after work at Food n’ Fuel on Russell Street and Kiwanis Avenue in Sioux Falls, and asked the clerk to check his Powerball ticket.
"I asked them to run my ticket through and he (the clerk) said, ‘I think you won.’ It was a shocker," Bly said. "I just said, you’ve got to be kidding me…"
Curt said his wife didn’t believe him when he called and told her he would be late because officials had to verify his ticket.
"She thought I got in an accident," he said. She was relieved when she found out it was a lottery ticket, not a traffic ticket her husband was verifying.
Bly said he purchases about three Powerball tickets a month, usually at the Food n’ Fuel.
Unaware that he had a winner, Bly left his ticket in his car all weekend long and never checked the news or newspapers for the winning numbers.
The couple collected their winnings, $73,000 after taxes, on Tuesday, Feb. 25
"We’re just going to invest it," Curt said.
The Blys hope the money will grow into a nice education fund for their two children, Houston, 4, and Regan, 1.
Melissa (Bush) works as a bookkeeper at the Tuff Memorial Home, Hills, and Curt works as a sorter at UPS, Sioux Falls, S.D.
