Ruth Henderson celebrated her 70th birthday on Friday by claiming
a shiny new red truck from the New Mexico Lottery.
Henderson won the last of seven new Ford F-150 4x4 trucks being given away in the
New Mexico Lottery’s “Trucks & Bucks” Scratcher game. The prize package
is valued at $44,500 with the lottery paying the taxes, fees and license.
Henderson, who was in the market for a new truck, noticed the game while paying
for a cool drink after a vigorous workout of swimming.
“I thought, ‘That’s a pretty truck and we could use a new one,” Henderson recalled.
Over the next several days, Henderson bought three Trucks & Bucks tickets from
which she won small cash prizes. She used her winnings to buy a fourth ticket,
which contained the truck prize.
She immediately told her husband, Nolan, that she thought she had won a truck playing
a Scratcher game.
Her husband of 51 years responded by asking, “You won ‘what’ on a ‘what?’”
After claiming the truck, the Hendersons and their son, Danny, went “four-wheeling,”
an off-road adventure that coated the new truck in a fine layer of dust.
“Nolan loves the truck. He cleaned off all the dust as soon as we got home
– and he never dusts anything,” Henderson joked.
The Carlsbad resident purchased her winning ticket at the La Huerta Chevron No.
1290 located at 1401 Canal North in Carlsbad.
$340 Million Raised for Education
Since its inception in 1996, the lottery has raised $340 million for public education
in New Mexico and more than 48,000 students have received Legislative Lottery Scholarships.
As of the Spring 2007 semester, nearly 1,600 high school graduates from Eddy
County have received $5.3 million in Legislative Lottery Scholarships. Information
on Legislative Lottery Scholarships is available at
www.nmlottery.com.
