Provincial posted May 22, 2020 @ 06:00pm by Josh Duncan

Best friends of 70 years share $2M BC/49 lottery prize

Courtenay’s Alan Barker and Langley’s Kathleen Cook have been best friends since they met in England in the 1950s and moved to Canada with their spouses.

Because of the distance between them and COVID-19, they haven’t seen each other in months, but their reunion is sure to be quite grand.

That’s because the two of them, who have been buying lottery tickets together of late, won $2 million from the BC/49 draw on March 4, 2020.

<who>Photo Credit: BCLC</who>Alan Barker and Kathleen Cook

“I was looking at the screen and was dumbstruck,” Barker explained. “Even while I was walking out, someone asked if it was the big winner. I still can’t believe it.”

It didn’t take long for Barker to inform Cook of their good fortune.

“I was surprised when Alan told me the winning ticket was in his hands, full of wonder and disbelief,” she said. “It took a long time to register.”

The pair claimed their prize through BCLC’s current alternate prize claim process and they can now focus on what this life-changing win might bring them in the future.

Barker plans to donate some winning to the local hospital for new equipment and may move into “posher” assisted living, while Cook wants to help her family members make their lives easier and more convenient.

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