Lottery player wins big near anniversary of mom’s death. ‘Up there pulling strings’
Nearing the one-year anniversary of her mother’s death, an Iowa woman matched her mom’s big lottery win with one of her own.
“I bought that ticket because I was thinking of her,” Je Rita Whitman told lottery officials after her $30,000 win. “We used to scratch them together and laugh about her winning that one time. So I think she’s up there pulling strings for me.”
Whitman, of Anamosa, purchased the $30,000 Crossword ticket on her way to work at University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, Iowa Lottery officials said.
She initially thought she won $100. It wasn’t until she scanned her ticket when she realized she won the $30,000 jackpot — matching the dollar amount her mom won on an Iowa Lottery game in 2015.
“I just kept looking at it and I was like, ‘No way!’” Whitman said in the release. “I got so nervous about it, I had to call my husband and have him drive to Iowa City and pick up the ticket for me and take it home. I had to work all night and I was afraid I was going to lose it or something.”
The $30,000 Crossword game costs $3 to play. Odds of winning the jackpot prize are 1-in-119,932.
Whitman told lottery officials she is nearing retirement and hopes to live in a cabin where she can fish.
“My mom really loved to fish, too, so that was always my dream to have a cabin and fishing on a lake,” she said. “She was right there with me, she thought that was a great idea, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
Whitman’s mother, Sonja Warren, died Nov. 27, 2022. Her obituary mentions she enjoyed playing scratch-off lottery games.
Warren was “so excited (and) so tickled” when she won her 2015 prize, her daughter said.
“It’s kind of crazy: You just don’t think that kind of thing will happen to you, especially two in the same family,” Whitman said. “That’s very unique.”
Anamosa is about 25 miles northeast of Cedar Rapids.
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