Barrie Edwards and his brother, Terry, made a pact long ago.
If by some chance one of them ever won the lottery, they'd split the pot.
Barrie Edwards, 67, a retiree from Lancaster County, kept his word.
He and his wife, Jean, won the Powerball last Saturday and plan to share their sudden $42 million fortune with Terry, his wife, Linda, and 10 relatives.
"Everybody's getting something," said Jean Edwards, 64. "We just thought we'd help out these younger ones [nieces and nephews], who are all in their 40s. We want to give them some financial security."
Officials announced the winners yesterday at lottery headquarters in Harrisburg.
It turns out Barrie Edwards didn't even buy the winning ticket. He bought two Match 6 tickets and got the Powerball ticket free. It's a lottery promotion.
He didn't want to talk yesterday and skipped the televised ceremony in Harrisburg, staying at home on Willow Street to mow the lawn.
"He's camera-shy," his wife said.
The couple will take a lump sum of $42.5 million on the $86 million prize. Barrie and Jean will receive a little more than $17 million, as will Terry and Linda, who live nearby on Willow Street.
Other family winners will get $1.4 million each. They include: Robert and Elaine Funk of Mountville; Jeffrey and Donna Funk, also of Mountville; Melanie Funk of Lancaster; Gerald and Lynn Hess of Davidson, S.C.; K. Scott Edwards of Lusby, Md.; and Ronald and Yvonne Edwards of Washington, Lancaster County.
The figures represent winnings before taxes of 25 percent withheld by the government.
Barrie Edwards was watching TV on Saturday night and saw the Powerball numbers: 2, 5, 28, 33, 54 and red ball 30.
"I had gone to bed," said Jean. "He came back and said, 'We won the Powerball!' I said, 'Yeah, right. Turn off the light, I'm trying to sleep.'"
Her skepticism was understandable. The odds of Barrie Edwards winning were 1 in 146.1 million.
But when he insisted they had won, she got up and checked out the numbers on the lottery Web site. It was true. At midnight, they called Terry, a retired plumber, and Linda.
"At first they didn't believe us," said Jean. "Then they sort of went into shock."
The two couples kept the win a secret for five days while Jean, a cautious former bank employee, consulted with her accountant and her lawyer.
"We didn't want it getting out," she said. "You don't know what might happen. We've lost a lot of sleep."
Now it's out, of course. Most family members didn't yet know what they'll do with the money, although Yvonne Edwards, 46, said she'd pay off her house.
Linda Edwards immediately retired from her job at The Jay Group, a marketing company.
Jean Edwards said she went to the Park City Center mall earlier in the week, knowing she was now wealthy.
"But I didn't buy anything," she said.
She said she and Barrie probably won't change much about their lives. They both worked for many years, saved their money and are comfortable even without the extra millions. Barrie intends to keep indulging his main passion: hunting.
Jean conceded they've thought about a new house, maybe a new car.
But beyond that, nothing's really in the works except a trip to Disney World, where the whole extended family plans to celebrate their extraordinary good luck.
The jackpot was the 10th-largest in Pennsylvania.
First Published: August 9, 2008, 8:00 a.m.
