KY woman wins lottery jackpot on her deceased father’s birthday weekend

MURRAY, Ky. (WBKO) – After playing in honor of her father, one Kentucky woman took home a Powerball Jackpot.

It all started when Shannon Williams of Murray made a stop at Max Fuel Express in Hopkinsville on Sunday, Feb. 23. She was on her way back from Tennessee where she had just memorialized her dad, Kerry, who passed away in 2022.

In honor of her father’s birthday weekend, she decided to buy a Powerball ticket.

“I was right at the edge of Hopkinsville, and I stopped and grabbed a drink,” Williams explained. “And on the way out the door, because the sun was shining and it was an amazing weekend, I decided to turn around and walk back in and I said: ‘I’m going to play the Powerball because I feel like my dad is with me.’ It was his birthday weekend, and I just had this overwhelming feeling. So, I bought the ticket.”

According to lottery officials, her winning ticket matched four white ball winning numbers and the Powerball, winning $50,000 but her prize was multiplied to $150,000 since she added the Power Play feature to her ticket.

The Power Play number drawn was 3.

After buying the ticket, she headed to Rowdy Acres Farm in Elkton where she has a colt, named Cadillac, being trained. Williams has eight horses on her farm in Murray, but Cadillac is the only colt she and her dad raised together. Her dad owned Last Chance Farms in Puryear, TN.

“He (Cadillac) was five months old when Dad passed,” she explained. “He’s my heart horse. I got to sit on him for the first time Sunday, which is huge because I’ve been waiting for that moment for two years.”

Williams, a logistics manager for a supplier in Murray, said she realized her Powerball ticket might be a winner on Monday, Feb. 24, after the drawing around 11:30 p.m.

She has only played Powerball once before, although she plans to continue to play given her recent win, per the release.

“I lost my dad on Dec. 5, 2022, which is a very important day because on Dec. 5, 2019, we were eating at a restaurant in Paris, Tennessee,” she said. “And our fortune cookie had numbers on it. So we’re sitting at the table, and I said, ‘We’re going to play the Powerball and win.’”

Williams took a picture with her dad on that day. She and her best friend shared the photo with lottery staff when they arrived at the offices to claim Williams’ prize on Thursday, Feb. 27.

“My dad and I took that picture to show what our expressions were going to be when we won the Powerball,” Williams said. “So that was in 2019 when we took the picture and then he passed the same day (Dec. 5) in 2022.”

Williams received nearly $110,000 after taxes.

With the winnings, Williams plans to build a barn her father would have wanted, a front porch to watch the sunset, and to make donations to the American Cancer Society and St. Jude Children’s Hospital in memory of her father and nephew, respectively.

“I’m going to build the barn that my daddy wanted me to have for all these horses I’ve worked so hard for the past two years,” Williams said in a release. “I feel that my dad would be very proud.”

Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, the day after Williams’ Powerball win in honor of her dad, was his birthday.

Max Fuel Express will receive $1,500 for selling the winning ticket. Saturday night’s Powerball jackpot is an estimated $320 million.

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