Lottery winner wants to land himself a full-time job
He's got a million reasons to retire, but the idea of sitting back and relaxing in his plush new west-side home is driving lottery winner Donald Majore to distraction.
That's why the 60-year-old former truck driver's new year's resolution is to find a new job behind the wheel - after discovering stacking supermarket shelves wasn't for him.
"Winning was a nice feeling but after I quit my job I went to work at the supermarket to keep fit," he said. "I did that for a while, but I couldn't take it anymore - their work ethic was too demanding. I think I lasted nine hours."
Donald was born and raised in Saskatchewan and spent 20 years driving Canadian army trucks. He was posted to Edmonton in 1975 and has stayed in the City of Champions ever since.
He had been working as a Canadian Freightways driver when he struck gold on the Western 649 lottery last month - scooping the $1-million prize.
"Everybody hopes for it and when you get it, you appreciate it," he said. "But it doesn't make me any happier. I'm still going to be like I was before."
Donald and his wife Midge, 58, invested half of their prize, bought a new $200,000 house and gave their son, an auto detailer, an early Christmas present: a big pile of cash.
Donald said his new three-bedroom home isn't too fancy and he still drives his '96 GMC truck. His wife has also refused to give up her job as a cook at Castle Downs bingo hall.
"We've worked all our lives, so why stop now?" she said. "I don't think I could sit at home. We're going to live the same as always."
Midge recently took a week off work while they moved house, but the couple have no plans to blow a chunk of their money on the holiday of a lifetime.
"I was never one for travelling before and I don't want to do it now," said Donald. "I'm living the same and on Saturday mornings I still call bingo at Castle Downs like I've been doing for 1 1/2 years. Everybody knows that I won and they notice that I haven't changed."
Donald says publicity about his win led to a flood of requests for cash. But having let them "go in one ear and out the other," many of his friends are now just hoping some of his luck will rub off on them.
"Every time I tell them to buy a ticket, they do," said Donald, laughing. "They also rub my shoulder for luck."
One person Donald wishes he could share his wealth with is his other son, who died in 1999 at the age of 20.
"When we lost our son we sold our home. He died in his sleep of a heart attack," said Donald. "He was a DJ, he worked at Castle Downs with his mom."
Donald has also suffered two heart attacks, the most recent in 1996. That's why he's so keen to keep fit by finding himself a new full-time job in January.
"I'm going to start working - I'm going to apply for a job delivering auto parts around the city in January," said Donald.
"It's a lot of running around, which is good. The lottery money is security for me and my family, if I do happen to go. But while I'm here, I still want to be me."
...but the 'vast majority' of the car dealerships and service writers were very friendly, so i might have been a little 'too critical' of my memories of the job in the above post. mr majore might find it to be the perfect job considering he was a driver in previous employment and delivery of auto parts surely entailed a lot of driving. it was just a few bad experiences where mechanics were anxiously waiting for parts that were not exactly correct due to mistakes (sometimes on their part) that caused me to write about the negatives above. thinking back, overall, the job and people were very nice.
i don't think deliveri
...but the 'vast majority' of the car dealerships and service writers were very friendly, so i might have been a little 'too critical' of my memories of the job in the above post. mr majore might find it to be the perfect job considering he was a driver in previous employment and delivery of auto parts surely entailed a lot of driving. it was just a few bad experiences where mechanics were anxiously waiting for parts that were not exactly correct due to mistakes (sometimes on their part) that caused me to write about the negatives above. thinking back, overall, the job and people were very nice.