A date-night tradition for a couple from Cache Bay, Ont., paid off in a big way when they won $34 million in a recent Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball draw. Joe and Lise Menard, who have been married for 36 years, spend their regular Friday date night by eating dinner at a restaurant and then stopping at the store to buy their weekly lottery tickets. The tickets they purchased this spring won them $34 million in the June 21 draw. The loving couple held hands as they attended their winner celebration in Toronto, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. said in a news release Thursday. “We always buy our lottery tickets on Friday as part of our date night,” Lise said in the release. “We happened to stop at a gas station, and I had some old tickets in my purse, so I asked Joe to check them after he finished pumping the gas.” “When I went in to pay for the gas, I asked the clerk to check the tickets,” said Joe. Replayed his old tickets “After seeing they weren’t winners, the clerk asked if I wanted to replay them. I usually get new tickets using Quick Pick, but this time I replayed the old ones.” “When I heard on the news that the Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball ticket was sold in northern Ontario, I had a premonition that we had the winning ticket,” he added. “It wasn’t until later that evening that Lise checked the tickets on her phone with the OLG app.” Lise said she was in disbelief when she saw the winning message on her phone. “I almost had a heart attack. I kept saying ‘Joe! Joe! Joe!’ At first, he thought we had won $34,000 and I kept telling him to look at all the zeros!” The retired couple wanted to share the news with their grown children right away. “They couldn’t believe what we were telling them,” said Lise. “They thought we were playing a joke on them, but when I sent them a screenshot of the $34 million message from the OLG app, they started screaming. They were so excited for us.” The couple met when Joe took Lise to her high school prom and they’ve been inseparable ever since. Though they have both worked hard all their lives, they say they have always watched their pennies carefully. Both this win will now make life easier for their family. “The big thing for us was to take care of the kids the best way we can,” Lise said. “Now my kids will be taken care of -- no more worries. When someone needs something, we will be there to help.” Travelling across Canada is a dream that is about to come true for Joe and Lise, as they plan to visit each coast and stop at all the great Canadian cities in between. Joe also wants to fulfil a promise he made to Lise all those times they were driving home from their date nights. “I’ve always wanted to give her a dream home, and now she’s going to get it.” Lise said there’s one very special thing she wants in that new dream home: “I’ve always dreamed of having a big harvest table so we can all sit together for family meals and entertain more during the holidays. No more sitting all over the house — now we’ll be all together.” A retired mechanic, Joe still loves working on vintage cars and will be making a special purchase. “Since I was 16 years old, I have been dreaming of hot rods, and now I’m going to get one,” he said. Real diamond ring Joe also vows to fulfill another longtime promise to his wife. Lise proudly wears a large fake diamond ring that Joe made as a joke gift for their 15th wedding anniversary, crafted from a steel nut welded onto a big novelty crystal. “She’s going to get a real diamond ring now for putting up with me all those years,” Joe said. Lise became very emotional when describing their lives together. “Joe’s favourite saying is ‘What momma wants, momma gets.’ Even though we didn’t have much, he’s always given me what I wanted and has never shied away,” she said. “He’s my best friend, and he will always be.” “Now that we’ve won this money, people may want to change the name of our small town — between Sudbury and North Bay — from Cache Bay to CA$H Bay,” Joe quipped. The Menards purchased their winning ticket at Arrowhead Gas Bar on Osprey Miikan Road on Nipissing First Nation, near North Bay.
