ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. – A St. Clair Shores woman who has played the same lottery numbers for years but misplaced her winning tickets got them back from another customer.
Bonnie Mason said her lottery numbers came up Saturday, but she couldn’t find the winning tickets.
“I kind of panicked,” Mason said.
She told her granddaughter she was going to go to Joseph’s Party Shop on Harper Avenue in St. Clair Shores, where she always plays the lottery.
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“She says, ‘Do you think they are going to give them to you?’" I said, ‘Nothing beats a failure but a try,’" Mason said.
Owner Sam Najor had her tickets waiting, thanks to another honest customer.
“She says, ‘I bet they are winners,’" Najor said. “Somebody left them here.”
“He said, ‘Are these your numbers?’" Mason said. “I called a couple off to him. He said, ‘These are your numbers.’”
Mason hit the pick three and four. She said she has played the same numbers for years. One combination is very personal to her.
“It is my deceased son’s last four of his social security number,” Mason said.
Her son, Phillip Shannon, was shot and killed Aug. 17, 2009, when he was 34 years old, she said.
Najor said he’s happy something good happened to Mason.
She won about $400 and gained a renewed faith in humanity.
“I am just so thankful for both of them,” Mason said. “It is integrity that is hard to come by. Integrity and honor instilled in people years ago. It was refreshing.”