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If I had $10 million
Gary Yokoyama, the Hamilton Spectator
Since winning $10,569,000.10, Sharon Mentore has shared the wealth with family and friends, and treated herself to some nice things, such as a totally loaded blue Cadillac, and a house.
Sharon Mentore was living hand to mouth before her win in 2004. Is she happier today?
By Jon Wells
The Hamilton Spectator(May 12, 2007)
Brassy Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth once opined that money can't buy happiness, "but it can buy you a yacht nice enough to pull up right alongside."
Well if not a yacht, how about a customized Cadillac trimmed in fibreglass and chrome and featuring such on-board necessities as a networked Xbox, strobe kit, turntables and a stereo with enough subwoofers to announce your arrival in Ancaster once you pass, oh, Brantford?
Before the spring of 2004, Sharon Mentore did not have a car with touch-screen monitors and back-lit mirrors with the name of her favourite designer clothing label, Babyphat, emblazoned on them. She did not even own a car. She could only dream of buying designer clothes. And she lived far from the stately Ancaster Meadowlands.
At 27, she rented in the downtown and lived on social assistance. She was a single mom living with her three kids and two friends. She made fourteen bucks an hour helping the elderly and physically disabled eat, dress and bathe themselves.
That was before she came into some money. A lot of money. On Easter weekend 2004, she won the second-largest jackpot in Hamilton lottery history.
"I don't live in the best part of Hamilton," she told reporters when she won. "But I will soon."
In one sense, she's been on easy street ever since, leading a lifestyle of the rich if not famous. But the road has not been entirely smooth. When your ATM slip says you have $10 million in the bank, how much do you give to others? There has been bad blood with family, friends and even a lawsuit filed against her. On the other hand, there's the clothes, the yellow Hummer, the house, the trips -- such as repeated visits to Cancun, where the Cocoa Bongo club might as well have hung Sharon's picture above the bar.
The bottom line: was Diamond David Lee Roth correct? Did Sharon find happiness from her millions, or at least pull up alongside it?
Gary Yokoyama, the Hamilton Spectator
Since winning $10,569,000.10, Sharon Mentore has shared the wealth with family and friends, and treated herself to some nice things, such as a totally loaded blue Cadillac, and a house.
Sharon Mentore was living hand to mouth before her win in 2004. Is she happier today?
By Jon Wells
The Hamilton Spectator(May 12, 2007)
Brassy Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth once opined that money can't buy happiness, "but it can buy you a yacht nice enough to pull up right alongside."
Well if not a yacht, how about a customized Cadillac trimmed in fibreglass and chrome and featuring such on-board necessities as a networked Xbox, strobe kit, turntables and a stereo with enough subwoofers to announce your arrival in Ancaster once you pass, oh, Brantford?
Before the spring of 2004, Sharon Mentore did not have a car with touch-screen monitors and back-lit mirrors with the name of her favourite designer clothing label, Babyphat, emblazoned on them. She did not even own a car. She could only dream of buying designer clothes. And she lived far from the stately Ancaster Meadowlands.
At 27, she rented in the downtown and lived on social assistance. She was a single mom living with her three kids and two friends. She made fourteen bucks an hour helping the elderly and physically disabled eat, dress and bathe themselves.
That was before she came into some money. A lot of money. On Easter weekend 2004, she won the second-largest jackpot in Hamilton lottery history.
"I don't live in the best part of Hamilton," she told reporters when she won. "But I will soon."
In one sense, she's been on easy street ever since, leading a lifestyle of the rich if not famous. But the road has not been entirely smooth. When your ATM slip says you have $10 million in the bank, how much do you give to others? There has been bad blood with family, friends and even a lawsuit filed against her. On the other hand, there's the clothes, the yellow Hummer, the house, the trips -- such as repeated visits to Cancun, where the Cocoa Bongo club might as well have hung Sharon's picture above the bar.
The bottom line: was Diamond David Lee Roth correct? Did Sharon find happiness from her millions, or at least pull up alongside it?
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