MAPLETON, Iowa — Five years since winning $1 million, Bob Boehm stands in roughly the same place.
He's at the James G. Whiting Memorial Field Airport in Mapleton on Wednesday, filling tanks of crop-dusters with fungicide for corn raised by farmers in Monona and Crawford counties. He stands with co-workers and pals, Bill Creese, Tommy Weber, Mark Lorenzen and Greg Sisco.
"He hasn't changed a bit," Lorenzen says about Boehm in the wake of his $1 million win in the Iowa Lottery Mega Millions game on April 10, 2010. "We knew he wouldn't."
Boehm, who turned 66 on July 21, still lives in the same home in Denison. He's still a bachelor and he still drives a truck to work at GFG Agri-Service in Charter Oak. He's worked there for 25 years.
"I'm semi-retired now and getting close to retirement," he says.
Boehm can't remember his winning numbers from five years ago. The machine picked the winning combination. He remembers standing at the Kum & Go on Fourth Avenue South in Denison the day after the drawing. He presented the ticket, with nary an inkling it had won.
The clerk told Boehm that someone at the store had purchased a winning ticket worth $1 million. The machine didn't sound its bells and whistles when the clerk sent Boehm's ticket through the first time.
The second check took longer. The clerk, he recalls, stared at the computer before looking up to Boehm and saying, "We don't have enough money here."
Boehm figured he'd won $2,000. The clerk said he was wrong. He'd won $1 million.
Boehm didn't celebrate. He tucked the receipt away and headed to work in Charter Oak. It was April and he had chemicals to deliver to area farmers.
Co-workers urged Boehm to drive to Des Moines to claim his prize. A friend drove him to Iowa Lottery headquarters, where he took a lump-sum payment of $700,000, after taxes.
"The government got $300,000 right away," Boehm says, breaking down his $1 million prize.
I tell him about an ESPN "30 for 30" special that focuses on star athletes who've lost millions of dollars through bad investments, bad advice and bad company.
Boehm shakes his head. He keeps the same friends and lifestyle.
Oh, he did splurge a bit. Boehm treated his nieces and nephews to a trip to Germany to retrace the steps he took while serving there for the U.S. Army 45 years ago. The trip cost $14,500 but was well worth it.
He bought a new pickup in 2010 and bought another new truck this year, a GMC Canyon.
"And I went on a cruise to the Bahamas this year," he says.
But that's about it. Boehm doesn't sip fine wine and hasn't ever ridden in a limousine. He shops and dines as he has for years. He lives by himself and is content to be surrounded by his buddies, even if they rib him from time to time, as they do at the airport in Mapleton.
"I stick my hand out and he shakes it," Creese says as they laugh.
When I ask about his health, Boehm says he had hip replacement surgery in 2011.
"That was from sitting on that big billfold," Weber says as the group busts out in laughter.
Boehm laughs and rolls with the punches as a plane lands, pressing a semi-retired jackpot winner into duty.
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$1M is not worth what it used to be, but I'll still gladly take it.
Congrats to the lucky guy, nice to see a down to Earth guy.
What a cool story.
A sensible man. Great story!
He has everything he needs or wants plus Peace of Mind...
mikeintexas, I agree with you about Bob's retirement. That hope is very common amongst us lottery players.
I would retire and look after my extended family. Of course I would be wary of the , "Friends and family" warning for all lottery winners. I will relearn the word , NO ! .
Bob his doing well with his winnings.
I agree! Plus, I think if this lottery winner rechecks his tax payments -- during those first two years of the win -- it would show him having paid more like $450K in income taxes out to the fed and state!
It is great that he has kept his feet on the ground. But it would be much easier if winners were allowed to remain anonymous. When it is public knowledge that you have won a large amount, it can a lot of pressure on winners to 'help' others. Which sounds like a good thing to do, it can wreck the winners long-term financial security.
Good grief, wish you'd give it (whining about anonymity) a rest. They have it in Australia, great, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why you're so anal about the subject here in the states - which is none of your business. A lottery winner's family is going to know about it, anonymous or not and family is where the most pressure (and danger) comes from, NOT the public.
And to be honest $1M is not what it was 25 years ago so it shouldn't be hard at all to say no to money requests. If you can't then you need to fix your personality.
Yessir, that's exactly right.
Y'know, I started to make the claim that myturn has made 800 posts and I'd bet that half of them were whining about anonymity or that the winners needed to be supplied with financial counselling. That's prob. not the case, but after looking through some of his last entries, I saw a post by him on the July 4th thread that really ticked me off.
As you may know, Texas was not part of the US at independence, it was later stolen from Mexico. But that is fine, they are now reclaiming it demographically.
Good grief, no wonder England sent the dregs of their society to Australia...they not only got rid of the scum criminals, they sent the stupid ones as well...myturn's ancestors.
For your information, shackle dragger, Texas WON its independence, it didn't steal anything from Mexico. Look at a list of the Alamo defenders sometime; there were several (7) Tejanos who fought alongside the Anglos...and many of those white men had wives of Mexican descent. There were men from Tennessee, Kentucky and the Carolinas, from Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. European nations were also represented - at least 20 from England and Ireland and others from Germany, Denmark, Scotland and Wales....all brave men who fought for freedom. If you called them thieves to my face, I'd punch you in yours.
So, why don't you stick to b*tching and moaning about anonymity and how lottery winners can't fend for themselves. It's for sure you don't know jack about Texas.
It's also public knowledge that in America a million dollars lottery prize is only worth about 2/3 that after taxes but beggars don't care they think winners should think of their needs before paying the taxes and taking care of his own needs.
Sounds like a very good man. Feet on the ground, no bottom suckers to clean him out. Just a regular guy that hasn't and won't change one bit. Congratulations, stories like this make me smile. Some people say 'it's only a million bucks'. Sure jealousy and envy get the best of people, sorry for your luck, you did not win so shut up.