A group of Ohio teachers hit a $1 million Powerball prize and turned it into a tribute to a colleague who died of cancer.
The 10-member pool from Crestview Elementary in Ashland had kept playing in memory of Mary Jo Manocchio, 60, a longtime kindergarten school teacher who died in March 2021.
For years after her death, her friends covered her share so she would still be part of the group, according to the Ohio Lottery and Cleveland’s FOX 8.
That loyalty paid off Aug. 6, when their ticket matched all five white balls for a $1,000,004 payday.
The teachers’ win came during the current jackpot drought — no one has claimed the grand prize since May 31 in California — that has now pushed the pot to a record $1.8 billion for Saturday’s drawing.
Manocchio had been their “guardian angel,” Rader told the lottery.
“She was a good friend,” retired art teacher Karen Rader told FOX 8. “Makes me get a little weepy. She loved her kids, her own children and she loved the children that she taught.”
Rader, who had organized the pool for six years, said she was sitting with a coffee when she scanned the ticket and discovered they had struck it rich.
“I was talking to my daughter on the phone, and I was like, I think we won a million dollars!” Rader told lottery officials. “I started texting everyone and they were like no way, no way and so they checked the numbers themselves, and they were like, we did win!”
The winning ticket was bought at a Circle K gas station in Seville. Rader told FOX 8 she had the group saved in her phone as “future millionaires” and sent out the news to stunned colleagues.
The pool includes teachers, a custodian and a guidance counselor, who had all chipped in weekly for six years. Before the big score, the group’s biggest win was a handful of small-dollar wins.
After taxes, each member will pocket about $72,000, officials said.
Some are planning to pay off mortgages or buy new cars.
But the most meaningful payout will go to Manocchio’s family.
Her four adult children will receive her portion and are considering using it for a memorial or family trip in her honor, Rader told FOX 8.
“Because that is what Mary Jo would have loved,” Rader said. “To have her family together.”
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