DEARBORN, Mo. — Friday was undoubtedly one of the strangest days in the lives of the Hill family of Dearborn, Missouri – but that’s to be expected after being presented with an oversize check with a lot of zeros on it.
“It’s just surreal, I mean it’s like you are in a dream and it’s not really happening and every once in a while you look at each other and ask did we really win that money, you know is this real?” said Cindy Hill, who with her husband Mark are around $137 million richer after winning a share of the Powerball jackpot on Wednesday night.
The Hill’s say that they have been working to protect their children and grandchildren from the sudden onslaught of people coming out of the woodwork for a piece of their sudden wealth. That included telling their children not to tell anybody about their big win.
For their son Cody, that part was tough.
“So then I go to work and everybody’s talking about someone form the KC area won, I’m like, ‘You don’t say. I’m like I bet those people are pretty happy right now’,” said Cody Hill.
They are happy now, but before their big win on Wednesday night, Cindy Hill was out of work and actually missed a phone interview the day after the drawing. And a couple of years ago, Mark Hill lost his job, and only recently returned to work.
That may explain Mark Hill’s frugality after forgetting to pack a few items.
“We had to get toothpaste and stuff like that, so I found myself in the store still looking at prices of stuff,” said the new multimillionaire.
Cindy Hill says that thrifty attitude is what they hope will keep them grounded.
“We’ll still be going down to the corner cafe for breakfast or fish day, I can guarantee you that, I mean it’s just us were are normal human beings, I mean we’re as common as anybody, we just have a little bit more money,” said Cindy Hill.
After taxes, the family will have around $137 million, give or take – and the family says that giving is on top of their to-do list.
“God blessed us with this and for some reason he put it in our hands to make sure it goes to the right things but we were blessed before we ever won this,” said Hill.
