After signing to purchase a new home Friday, Pati and Stephen Kohl said they would have to win the lottery to make ends meet.
The next day, they did just that.
Stephen Kohl is one of 25 folks who are part a lottery office pool at Wild Flavors Inc. in Erlanger, Ky. The group won Saturdays $12.6 million Lotto South jackpot.
Those in the pool chose the lump sum cash option and will receive nearly $177,800 each.
This worked out just perfect. We bought a house on Friday and won the lottery on Saturday, said Stephens wife Pati Kohl. Its kind of funny, too, because on Friday as we were signing all the papers for the house Steve said Now all we have to do is win the lottery. I thought yeah, thats wishful thinking.
The couple had even recently considered getting out of the pool to save a little money here and there for the new house, said Stephen Kohl, a 47-year-old flavor compounder at Wild Flavors.
My wife said, You better not. You never know you might hear them going nuts one day because they won and youll never forgive yourself. Well, I think I made the right choice, he said.
When word of the office pools Saturday success reached Stephen Kohl, he was working a Sunday shift, trying get in some extra hours, he said.
One of the maintenance guys I work with, Bill, came up to me and he was shaking, he said. He said he got a call that we hit the lottery. I told him to have someone confirm the numbers... Well then I heard everyone hooting and hollering, so I knew. It was sort of a surreal day. I went in for 10 hours. I could only make it for six.
Now the couple plans to do a lot of things on our wish list and invest a good part of the new fortune, Pati Kohl said.
The couples two sons, one a Fairfield High School student and the other a specialist in the Army, have already reaped the benefits of the winnings, according to their mother.
We bought our youngest son a car and gave the oldest the equivalent in cash, Pati Kohl said. Now were just going to make sure we put enough aside to hopefully retire in 10 years along with pensions and IRAs we have. Well just take day by day.
Stephen Kohl, who 14 years ago underwent major surgery and was out of work for several months, said the winning is a blessing.
Were not extravagant people, he said. The only thing Im smart about when it comes to money is to know to call somebody who knows more about it than I do when I get it.
When we were signing those papers for the house, I thought my goodness I hope this is the right thing to do. I hope nothing big happens, he added. Now I dont have to worry about that as much. It might add about five more years to my life.
"I went in for 10 hours. I
cool story!
I often predict I'm going to w
Up to 85 million now...