A quick ticket to $10 million

Lake Stevens couple to share lottery’s largest jackpot ever

By KATHY KORENGEL

Herald Writer

Daryn Young of Lake Stevens always wished for a ski boat.

"I’ve wanted a boat for years," the 36-year-old said, "but it wasn’t practical in our situation. My wife always said, ‘If you win the lottery, you can get that boat.’"

Anchor’s aweigh.

Young and his wife Yvonne won part of the state’s biggest Lotto jackpot ever on Wednesday, but he said Friday that winning more than $10 million didn’t feel how he imagined it would.

"Basically we’re numb. We’ve been in denial for the last two days," said Young, a manager at Crown Distributing Co. in Everett.

And Young, surrounded by his wife and two children, said they don’t plan to spend their third of the $32 million doing the expected, such as splurging on frivolous things.

"We feel very fortunate. We want to be responsible with it and make sure we do the right thing," Daryn said.

However, he might get a ski boat, he said when pressed.

Young sat beside Yvonne, also 36, at a press conference Friday in Everett. The couple, who have known each other since growing up together in Snohomish, sat in jeans and sneakers. They described how they bought the lucky ticket at the last minute Wednesday at the Frontier Village Safeway because Daryn had forgot to pick one up in Everett that day.

Yvonne "was always telling me how there are never winners in Lake Stevens," Daryn said.

That evening, as Daryn was packing for a business trip, he heard his wife calling to him from the next room, "Come here, come here," as she realized they had a wining ticket.

"I thought it must be a spider or something," Daryn said.

That night, they tried to take the ticket to several stores, which either were closed or had broken Lotto machines, so the next morning they ran to the local mini mart at 5 a.m., where the clerk verified the winning numbers.

"We went out and parked and started screaming and yelling," Daryn said.

Daryn said they haven’t decided exactly what to do with the windfall yet, although they’ll probably start by paying off some bills. They also said they have a big family to share it with, including their 14-year-old daughter, Jessica, and 6-year-old, Korey.

"We have two kids that need to go to college," Daryn said.

Jessica, an eighth-grader at North Lake Middle School, said, "I’m glad they’re not going out and wasting all the money like some people do. It’s a valuable lesson to me."

Jessica said she was happy to hear some of the money might go toward her college education. She hopes to some day study marine biology at the University of Hawaii.

Her younger brother was less restrained. "Let’s buy something, a toy," he said as he sat on his dad’s lap.

His father said neither he nor his wife, who works as a bookkeeper at Topsoils Northwest Inc. in Snohomish, plan to quit working. "We’re too young to quit," Daryn said.

He also said the couple, who have lived in the Lake Stevens area for about eight years, had no immediate plans to move.

"I like our lives. We love it there. We’re happy there," he said.

The Youngs have not yet decided whether they’ll take their winnings in a lump sum, before taxes, of $5.3 million, or 25 annual payments of about $425,000. After taxes, the lump sum would be more than $3.8 million and annual payments would equal $306,720, or more than $840 a day.

A second person holding one of the lucky tickets for the $32 million jackpot claimed his winnings today at the Olympia office of the Washington State Lottery.

Long V. Phan, 51, of Auburn said his immediate plans were to help his family living in the United States and in Vietnam. He chose the lump-sum option.

The holder of the outstanding winning ticket for the record-breaking jackpot has 180 days to claim his prize.