DES MOINES, Iowa – An Estherville woman was on her way home with her family when she decided to stop for a few “Crossword” tickets and ended up winning a top prize of $30,000.
Laura Giebler, 40, said she and her husband, Greg, enjoy playing Crossword together. So when they got home, he took the middle of three tickets and gave her the other two.
“My hands just started to shake because I didn’t believe it,” Giebler said. “I told my husband, ‘Grab a pen and write these words down!’”
When Giebler and Greg discovered she’d found ten words on her Crossword ticket, they couldn’t believe what they’d won.
“I just freaked,” Giebler said with a laugh as she claimed her prize Jan. 17 at the Iowa Lottery’s regional office in Storm Lake.
Giebler had a hard time waiting to bring her ticket in.
“It was so hard because it was a Saturday,” Giebler said. “And your office was closed on Monday, so I bet I checked that ticket a hundred times.”
Giebler was waiting to surprise her extended family about her win, but had told her boss at Estherville Lincoln Central where she teaches.
“I had to tell our principal because I had to ask for the day off,” she said. “He just congratulated me.”
Giebler said she and Greg plan to use some of the money to pay bills as well as remodel their home.
Giebler purchased her ticket at Casey’s, 103 Central Ave. in Estherville.
