Only a couple of small groups of people were standing behind the Perry Drug Store in Perryopolis. Most of them were carrying home video cameras and had a slight smile much like Katlubeck's.
A man in red smiled in the monitor. The remote camera zoomed closer, revealing every detail in his face as he spoke. Katlubeck hugged herself and smiled again.
'It has to be one of the greatest feelings in the world,' said Richard Bonczek as he accepted his check for a share of $27,038,029.50, a Pennsylvania Super 6 lottery jackpot amount.
Bonczek and five other area men won the top prize in Pennsylvania's Super 6 Lotto on Feb. 17, 2001.
'It's nice to see men who have worked hard all their lives, that don't have to work as hard anymore,' said Katlubeck. She is a niece of Bonczek's.
The six men, all workers at USX Irvin works in the Monongahela Valley, have been playing the lottery as a group since 1988.
They were presented the winning check by Pennsylvania Secretary of Revenue Larry P. Williams and other lottery officials in the small store where Walter Lonce Jr. of Perryopolis made the ticket purchase for the group.
The group won when they matched all six numbers - 09-28-39-43-49-61. The winner was a quick-pick ticket the men got along with their regular number. They had been chipping $5 each, twice a week, any time the lottery amount was above $10 million. The store owner, Leonard Pirilla, also received a check in the amount of $260,000 for selling the winning ticket.
In addition to Lonce and Bonczek; Thomas Canigiani of Belle Vernon, Martin Cornelissen of Port Vue, Greig Sillaman of McKeesport and Kevin Donaldson of Buena Vista were members of the group referred to as the 'Irvin 6.'
Their day began in front of the cameras for a commercial filmed by Belkowitz Productions out of Philadelphia. It was the first taste of a fame they hope will fade quickly.
'Skip' Bonczek didn't want the windfall to change his life too much. He said his three children will all go to the same school for 'at least the next year,' and he might buy 'a little bit bigger house.' But he thought his family responded to the possibility of being rich fairly even-headed as a group. 'My 9-year-old wanted to go to a Penguins game, my 12-year-old wanted a puppy, and my 18-year-old wanted a used car,' Bonczek said.
The one thing that will change for most of them is job status. Out of six men, only Donaldson hasn't retired from the Irvin plant.
'Well, I've been laid-off since November, so I think I'll go back for a couple of weeks, and then we'll see,' said Donaldson.
Donaldson's wife, a second-grade elementary school teacher, sat at the long counter of the drug store enjoying a cake provided by the lottery officials. 'It's the sweetest cake I've ever had,' she laughed.
She and her daughters were looking forward to the one big purchase the family has decided to make; a condominium at Seven Springs. The Donaldsons' 16-year-old daughter Kelly wants to score a 'yellow Jeep with pink seats.' She was holding the over-sized presentation check and said that the family would probably frame it. Crystal, the Donaldsons' 18-year-old daughter, wanted to get a new bumper for her Ford F-150.
Kevin Donaldson got contemplative for a moment as all the men did as the moment seemed to sink in. 'Being in a group...made it a lot nicer. I don't know if it was just me...' he gestured to the crowd, the cameras, the reporters, 'it would be really difficult.'
Alice Glawinski, the Perry Drug Store employee who sold the winning ticket, was familiar with Lonce and his family. 'Walter's mom comes in all the time.' She talked of how nice and generous she was with everyone. 'I'm glad they won it,' she decided.
