MONROE - Morlin Zimmerman is a lucky man.
The Monroe native won $20,000 in the Wisconsin Powerball lottery April 10. He purchased his $1 ticket, with an added $1 powerplay, the same day at the Lucky 7 gas station on 21st Street, Monroe.
A retired rural mail carrier in the Winslow area, Zimmerman said he's been playing the lottery since the 1980s, when he could purchase the tickets in Illinois.
But Tuesday, the 78-year-old said he wouldn't be playing the lottery anymore.
"I got myself out of debt. My wife died last year, and I got her bills paid off," he said. "She always said, one of these days we're gonna hit her big ... too bad she's not here now."
With the money he has left over, Zimmerman said he gave some to his daughter and donated some.
And he's going to keep donating, working from a list of more than 50 people who need help, including his 80-year-old brother and a nephew, both of whom are disabled.
"We made a list about three to four years ago," he said.
A disabled Korean War veteran, Zimm-erman said a lot people need dental care and many kids are in need of one thing or another.
"There's always people who can use money," he said. "You can spread it around easily."
But this was not the first time Zimmerman has won something big.
"I got an all-expensed paid trip to see the Brewers in the 1980s. And when I was 65, I won a contest for batting practice with the Cubs," he said.
Zimmerman said if he had one more number on his winning ticket, he would have won $150 million.
"Whew! Wouldn't that have been something?" he said. "We'd have rented the county fair grounds and had Dolly Parton and George Strait in here to play for us. We'd have had a big party."
The Monroe native won $20,000 in the Wisconsin Powerball lottery April 10. He purchased his $1 ticket, with an added $1 powerplay, the same day at the Lucky 7 gas station on 21st Street, Monroe.
A retired rural mail carrier in the Winslow area, Zimmerman said he's been playing the lottery since the 1980s, when he could purchase the tickets in Illinois.
But Tuesday, the 78-year-old said he wouldn't be playing the lottery anymore.
"I got myself out of debt. My wife died last year, and I got her bills paid off," he said. "She always said, one of these days we're gonna hit her big ... too bad she's not here now."
With the money he has left over, Zimmerman said he gave some to his daughter and donated some.
And he's going to keep donating, working from a list of more than 50 people who need help, including his 80-year-old brother and a nephew, both of whom are disabled.
"We made a list about three to four years ago," he said.
A disabled Korean War veteran, Zimm-erman said a lot people need dental care and many kids are in need of one thing or another.
"There's always people who can use money," he said. "You can spread it around easily."
But this was not the first time Zimmerman has won something big.
"I got an all-expensed paid trip to see the Brewers in the 1980s. And when I was 65, I won a contest for batting practice with the Cubs," he said.
Zimmerman said if he had one more number on his winning ticket, he would have won $150 million.
"Whew! Wouldn't that have been something?" he said. "We'd have rented the county fair grounds and had Dolly Parton and George Strait in here to play for us. We'd have had a big party."