Chattahoochee Valley man goes from picking pecans to multimillionaire

A Cuthbert, Ga,, man was picking pecans one minute, then the next he was a multimillionaire.

Willie West Jr. recently collected on a winning Powerball lottery ticket worth $2 million, according to a news release from the Georgia Lottery Corp on Thursday. The winning ticket was from the Dec. 27 drawing and was purchased at the One Stop Food Store in Cuthbert, a southwest Georgia community of 3,600 people.

West, 64, was picking pecans when he discovered there was a winning ticket that had been purchased in Cuthbert..

“My daughter called and told me to check my numbers,” the 64-year-old said. “Then my wife came outside and told me the winner was here in Cuthbert.”

He checked the ticket and realized he was the lucky man.

“The first thing I did was put my ticket in a safe place,” he said.

The winning numbers from the Dec. 27 drawing were: 3-9-16-56-60 and the Powerball was 3. West matched the first five numbers using the Quik Pik feature and doubled his prize with Power Play.

The American Proteins employee said that he plans to use his winnings to retire.

This story was originally published January 11, 2018 at 1:29 PM with the headline "Chattahoochee Valley man goes from picking pecans to multimillionaire."