Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 5, 2007

FORT SMITH - A Fort Smith couple says becoming overnight multimillionaires has not really hit them yet.

Barkley and Ann Heron won more than $11 million in the Oct. 27 draw of Lotto 6/49 - $11,361,328.30 to be exact.

Barkley and Ann Heron of Fort Smith hold a Lotto 6/49 sign while picking up their winnings in Edmonton. - photo courtesy of Western Canada Lottery Corporation

"It was unreal," said Barkley, who bought the ticket. "It was almost like a dream."

The couple kept checking the numbers on the Internet, and asking each other, "Is this true? Is this really true?"

They knew they had hit the jackpot, but weren't sure how much they had won until Sunday morning.

It is the largest lottery jackpot ever won in the NWT. The previous record was $1,091,002 won by a Yellowknife resident in 1989.

"We're still Ann and Barkley, normal people," Ann said in a telephone interview from Edmonton, where the couple went last week to collect their winnings.

"We don't want our life to change. We hope it doesn't," she said. "We're just two normal people from a little town."

The Herons won half of the $22-million jackpot on Oct. 27. Another winning ticket was sold in Alberta to a person who had not come forward as of last week.

Ann, 43, said the enormity of the win will eventually hit her and her 46-year-old husband. "Maybe one day we'll happen to faint."

The ticket was purchased by Barkley at The Rapid Corner Store, which he owns and operates.

Each Saturday, he goes on the Internet to check the lottery numbers just after 9 p.m. and discovered he had the winning six numbers. In fact, he had the winning six numbers, plus the bonus.

"I couldn't believe it. We're multimillionaires," Ann said. "What do you do?"

While they have no detailed plans for the windfall, they and Barkley's mother will be getting new houses, and they have already given their former house to Ann's sister Rose.

"We're going to take care of our families," Ann said.

The couple has a 23-year-old daughter.

They also hope to spend some of the money in the community, but as yet have no exact idea how.

They have already shared some of their good fortune with the people of Fort Smith by dropping the price of gas at their convenience store to 50 cents a litre on the night of the win.

"It was a way of saying thanks," Ann explained.

By 11 a.m. the next day, the tanks were dry, after cars lined up for the bargain and up to 10,000 litres of gas had been sold.

Some people were surprised Barkley was at the store on the Sunday morning after the win.

"They just thought it was weird that we were still working," Ann said.

Ann, a benefits officer with the Department of Human Resources, plans to stay at her job.

Barkley also plans to keep his business.

While they want their life to stay the same, Barkley said there are a lot more things for them to consider, everything from investments, to taxes to changing their wills.

"There's a whole new world we have to realize now," he said, adding it's not just a matter of taking the money and living happily ever after.

"Our biggest concern is, although it's lots, it can also be lost," he said.

And, the couple will continue buying Lotto 6/49 tickets.

"I laugh because I tell everyone that, before this happened, I was on a four-year losing streak," Barkley said. "I guess my losing streak is over."