Lotto: Good Luck Gets Even Better -- Spanaway Winner Won't Need That New Job After All

OLYMPIA - Unblinking and almost unbelieving, Port Arthur Tuley Jr. stared at the check in his hand and described it to the roomful of reporters:

"There's a seven, a five, a six, three zeroes, a period and two more zeroes . . ."

It might jar anyone - particularly someone unemployed for a year - to look down at a piece of paper bearing his name next to the figure $756,000.

But Tuley may get used to the sight: He'll get 19 more checks just like it between now and this date in the year 2013.

Tuley, 45, and his wife, Judy, 46, came from their Spanaway, Pierce County, home to Lottery headquarters in Olympia yesterday with the sole winning ticket in Saturday's record $21 million Lotto drawing.

Almost a year after being laid off from Boeing, Tuley, an aircraft mechanic, was offered a job at an Everett company late last week and decided to spend $20 on Lotto tickets to celebrate his good fortune.

Yesterday would have been his first day at work.

"I called them at 6:45 a.m. to inform them I had a better offer," he grinned.

Tuley purchased his computer-picked tickets at a Safeway store in Spanaway.

He heard the winning numbers on the 11 o'clock news Saturday night, then double-checked with a recorded lottery line. His first reaction: "Heartburn and a lot of palpitations . . . I was glued to my chair."

Waking up his wife, he broke the news in a roundabout fashion. "I asked her if there was anything she wanted for Christmas - money being no object - what would it be?"

Instead of spouting a wish list, Judy Tuley was slightly irritated at being awakened and was concerned about her husband's behavior. "She said I was kinda scaring her," he said.

"I just told him he was crazy," she said.

Even after listening to the lottery tape herself, looking at the ticket and seeing the numbers in the morning paper, "I still was in disbelief," said Judy Tuley, bookkeeper for a realty company.

The actual prize amount is $1,050,000 annually for 20 years, but 28 percent is withheld for federal taxes.

At a news conference yesterday, the couple said they'll stay in Spanaway, pay off their mortgage and other debts, and have no plans yet for major purchases.

The couple said they already have an idea - though they wouldn't discuss details - for a way to use some of the money "to help a lot of people who wouldn't otherwise be able to help themselves," Port Tuley said.

They also intend to help relatives.

Tuley said the couple's two adult daughters are single and available. But, he added, "they'll both have prenuptial agreements."