$3-Million Lottery Prize Won in Time to Save Couple’s Home

Shirley Ann May won a Megabucks state lottery prize of nearly $3.5 million on the last day she and her husband had to pay about $11,000 in overdue mortgage payments to avoid losing their home.

“We’re looking at this as our Christmas miracle,” she said Monday. “This is like Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all in one. Now we don’t have to worry about losing the house.”

May, 39, works at a rehabilitation center for the mentally retarded. Her husband, Stephen, 46, is a railroad police captain. They have sons ages 13 and 16.

Shirley May’s jackpot-winning ticket was one of four “Quik Pic” tickets she bought Saturday at a convenience store in North Reading. Numbers on such tickets are picked at random for the customer by computer.

She won a jackpot of $3,488,620 in Saturday’s drawing. After taxes, she will receive $130,823.25 a year for 20 years.