Lottery Bestows Millions of Blessings : Winners Enjoy Plenty for Thanksgiving, but Still Treasure Family and Friends

Louis Asimakis keeps a wood-framed map of the world on his living room wall.

Five dozen red-capped pins stick out from the seven continents, each marker representing a patch of ground he has set foot on since he and his wife raked in $11.2 million three years ago.

“I’m thankful,” he says today. “I’m rich.”

The 83-year-old retired oil worker is among a select group of Ventura County residents who have extra reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving.

They have become instantly wealthy through the California Lottery.

It’s only money, but it buys a lot of turkey. For Asimakis, it also has opened a whole new world.

“I never thought I would have been around the world at my age,” says Asimakis, who constantly jingles the change in his right front pocket as he speaks. “But my wife said, ‘Let’s travel before we hit the rocking chair.’ So that’s what we do.”

Asimakis still lives in the modest central Ventura home he has shared with his wife, Geraldine, for years. These days, two matching T-birds are parked side by side in their garage.

They may nuzzle in their redwood hot tub before celebrating Thanksgiving with neighbors. Then they will plan their next cruise, one of half a dozen vacations they take each year.

Iceland and Moscow loom sometime next month. They just returned from a riverboat trip between Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Favorite spot on the globe so far: Fairbanks, Alaska.

“It’s green,” he said. “You can see the mountains and people are really friendly there.”

More than 80 Ventura County residents have become millionaires since the game was introduced in 1986. The biggest local prize went to James and Roberta Stevens of Newbury Park, who pulled in nearly $34 million last year.

Not surprisingly, many have ditched their jobs and left the area. Some refuse to talk about their new-found wealth. Others are not so shy.

“Never in my life did I think I would be a millionaire,” said Asimakis, who is now a member of Oxnard’s exclusive Tower Club and the proud holder of a “platinum” credit card. “I figured I’d be working my whole life.”

They may be rich, but these lottery winners are thankful for the same things as most ordinary folks.

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Annual checks totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars have not stripped these millionaires of their sense of good fortune or their gratitude for family and friends.

Like on most Thursdays, Daniel Lattimore of Ojai will spend this morning in his workshop and the afternoon visiting his ailing wife.

He may take in some turkey at his stepdaughter’s house later in the day.

The $13.2 million that Lattimore won in a Super Lotto drawing last month has not yet hit home. Literally.

Lattimore inspects his mailbox daily, but is still awaiting that first check--a $468,000 payday, after taxes.

“I’m getting kind of angry at those people,” he said of the state lottery folks earlier this week. “They told me it would only be about 10 days.”

Make no mistake, however. Lattimore has plenty to be thankful for on this day, his first Thanksgiving as a millionaire.

“I’m very, very thankful that I won that lottery,” said Lattimore, a crusty man of 75 whose wife, Kathryn, is an Alzheimer’s patient confined to a nearby residential facility.

“It means I can keep my wife in a nice home.”

Many of the nouveau riche have been bombarded by speculators, financial planners and dollar-eyed hangers-on. Most have changed their phone numbers.

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Some simply look forward to sharing their good luck.

“There are a lot of people who have done a lot of good things for me,” said Lattimore, explaining his eagerness to receive his first installment. “I have some things I would like to do for them.”

After their beloved Dallas Cowboys tackle the Kansas City Chiefs this afternoon, John and Cynthia Wright will settle in with 25 or 30 of their closest friends and relatives.

They plan to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving feast in the confines of their new Springtown, Tex., home, about 20 miles west of Fort Worth.

“I’m just really thankful for everything--my wife, my kids, all my family,” said John Wright, who lived in a run-down, leaky-roofed shanty in Piru before his wife cashed in for $3.6 million in a Super Lotto drawing six years ago.

Some other personal luxuries the Wrights have allowed themselves include new Chevrolets for each of them and a new swimming pool in their back yard.

“Winning the lottery has just made everything that much easier,” said Wright, whose two sons both recently married. “Nowadays, I just do odds and ends, piddle around the house. I just fish and enjoy life.”

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Alfredo Medina is one of those winners who never got rich off the lottery.

But he is perhaps the most thankful of any of the millionaires. In March, he was among 26 workers at a Camarillo electronics firm who pooled their resources and shared an $18-million Super Lotto jackpot.

This afternoon, he will relish the time he can spend with his wife and children.

“My goal is to send my kids to college,” said Medina, who received the first of 20 checks for nearly $25,000 this past spring.

“I never had that opportunity and with the Lotto money, that’s probably going to become a reality,” he said. “That’s what I’m most thankful for, that my four girls will have the chance to go to college.”

Unlike some of his wealthier counterparts, Medina said his lifestyle has not changed significantly. With his first check, he paid off some debts and bought his wife a minivan. Next year, he hopes to buy a house.

In the meantime, he still goes to work each day and looks forward to coming home each night.

“I have a pretty good job and my salary is a pretty good chunk of change,” he said.

“Not everybody gets the opportunity to hold a good job and bring the money home.”