THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 22, 1995 TAG: 9502210080
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Long : 177 lines
GERALD SYKES SAYS HE will always remember this moment: He was standing in a Radio Shack in Newport News, had just bought several telephones and some intercom equipment. But when he dug into his pocket, he realized he had forgotten his driver's license. And the check was already written.
``I'm sorry, sir,'' Sykes recalled the clerk saying. ``We can't accept a check unless you have identification.''
So Sykes trotted out to the 1991 GMC pickup truck he had bought a couple of days before and grabbed a local newspaper. When he spread it out in front of the clerk, she stared at the headlines across the top: ``Smithfield Couple Wins $4.8 Million.''
Sykes said the woman looked at the front-page photo and then looked at him.
``Would you like to buy the whole store?'' she finally asked.
And, pointing at the picture, she added, ``I know this must be your wife with you, but just in case you're interested, I'm available.''
And the male clerk standing behind her said, ``Yeah - me, too.''
Smithfield's newest millionaire roared with laughter as he told that story last week, but it's just one of several already in his collection of hilarious happenings that have come with newfound wealth.
Sykes and his wife of 31 years, Betty Jean, struck it rich after playing a single set of six numbers - a combination of their birthdays that they have played since the Virginia Lottery began.
They drove to Lottery headquarters in Richmond on Feb. 13 and collected a check for $239,081 before taxes. That amounts to $162,575 after taxes - enough to buy an electronics store and a whole lot more.
Since the win, there has been laughter, but there also have been tears. And the Sykes now have to figure out how to live their lives with money. A lot of money.
Until their good fortune, Gerald, 54, and Betty Sykes, 50, lived on his disability checks - they couldn't even afford a telephone. They have lived in a small family home with her sister's family. Their only luxury was an occasional Bingo game, a couple of lottery chances each week.
``We were making out on my checks,'' Sykes said, filled with emotion and breaking down in tears. ``Betty raised the kids on $300 or $400 a month. No home. No phone. God knows I believe in Him now.''
The lives of this Smithfield couple took the sudden turn shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11.
They had gone to sleep while watching TV that night, before the news came on with the winning Lotto number. The next day, Sunday, Sykes was on his way to Newport News to price materials for an odd job he planned to do, hoping to make enough money to get through the month.
With his last $5, he stopped at the Sentry Mart on South Church Street to put gas into his wife's 1987 Oldsmobile.
``There were two or three people ahead of me at the cash register. I thought it would be a good time to check the Pick 3 and Pick 4 numbers. When I glanced over to the right, I saw the Lottery numbers. I looked again, and I realized what was there.''
Scrawled across the board were the six numbers the Sykeses have played since the Virginia State Lottery began: 1-8-16-20-40-44. They have played the one number and only that number once a week, twice a week, since that option began.
``I asked the lady in the store if the numbers were posted right,'' Gerald said, laughing and rubbing his face with his hands as he re-created that scene. ``I told her it was my number. I said, `You just wait right here until I come back.' I had to prove it to her, but I had to prove it to myself, too.''
Sykes rushed home and plucked the lottery ticket from the dresser, where he'd put it the night before. He drove back to the store.
It was true. In his hands, the man who had no phone, no home of his own and no cash held a piece of paper worth millions.
That was more than a week ago. And when Sykes recounts the story today, he's still likely to cry.
``I went back home, and Betty was still asleep,'' he said, pausing to wipe his eyes. ``When I woke her up, she looked at me like, `What do you want?' I handed her the ticket and pulled up the shade in the bedroom so she could see it.
``I told her she was a millionaire.''
Sykes remembers that he was laughing, crying, jumping up and down so that he expected later to see holes in the floor. He woke his sister-in-law, danced around the room with her. Then, he went outside and ran up and down the street to tell his neighbors.
For Betty, the newfound wealth took longer to sink in.
``It didn't dawn on me right away that we had won,'' she said, laughing. ``I couldn't understand half of what he was saying.''
But it was true.
Still, it was Sunday afternoon. The Sykeses played Bingo most Sunday afternoons. Despite the excitement, they still played that day. Gerald borrowed money from his sister-in-law for that excursion.
``Bingo relaxes me,'' Betty said. ``I love to play.''
She won $1,000. It meant they could drive to Richmond without floating another loan.
After a sleepless night, with a friend driving because they both felt too nervous, they went to a lottery office in Newport News, then it was on to Richmond to collect.
``Betty kept saying she was hungry as we were leaving Newport News, but I wasn't stopping for anything,'' Gerald said. ``I told her on the way back I'd buy her a whole restaurant.''
Instead, he bought her a Big Mac at McDonald's.
In many ways, the Sykes' lives have changed little since they hit the jackpot.
In other ways, things are dramatically different.
Sykes is a native of Pennsylvania who moved to Smithfield as a youngster. Betty Sykes has always lived in the small town. Both attended Isle of Wight Training School. They were out of school when they met in 1957. Gerald Sykes was friends with Betty's sister's boyfriend, who later became her brother-in-law.
He recalls sending her a note when they were both at a Saturday afternoon movie, in the balcony of the only theater in Smithfield.
``Mama took one look and fell in love,'' said Geraldine, the couple's 28-year-old daughter.
``Daddy fell in love with her beehive,'' said Gerald ``Mike'' Sykes, 25, teasing his mother about her '50s-style hairdo.
``And I went Gerald crazy,'' Betty admitted - which is why she decided to name two of her three children after their father.
The couple's youngest son is Willie, 24. They have three grandchildren.
Betty stuck by Gerald's side for 14 years while he served in the U.S. Army and spent three tours of duty in Vietnam. Suffering mental and physical problems he says were caused by the war, Sykes was discharged after 14 years, although he had intended to re-enlist.
``When my application for re-enlistment was turned down, I wrote to Washington. My records were scattered all over everywhere. When I wore my uniform, I wore it proudly. The Army was my life. I never even got an answer to my letter.''
Gerald Sykes was in the grip of post-traumatic-stress syndrome, what many people refer to as Vietnam Syndrome.
He had a hard time sticking with a job. He and Betty separated a couple of times.
Last year, after a short stay at the Veterans Hospital in Hampton, Sykes finally was declared 100 percent disabled. Betty, he said, stuck with him through it all.
And she was by his side when they claimed the winning lottery ticket. She was there through all of the news photos.
``I can't think of anybody more deserving,'' daughter Geraldine said. ``I hope now Daddy will buy Mama a house.''
``I want them to truly find God,'' Mike said. ``I see them there already.''
``I hope they get to do whatever they want to do,'' Willie said.
But the Skykes may be slow to accept change. After having so little for so long, it's not easy.
``When you go without money for so long, it's like - it's hard to spend it,'' Sykes said, in the small home he and his wife share with the couple who brought them together.
They say they plan to be careful when they do spend it.
Sykes bought his truck, a 1991. He didn't want a new one.
He went shopping - at Value City. He bought nothing.
Betty is still playing Bingo. She plans to keep her Oldsmobile. She did buy a new jacket, an ``everyday jacket,'' at Burlington Coat Factory.
They say they will spread their wealth among family and friends. They want to set up a trust fund that will provide a small monthly income to each of their children. Money already has been set aside to remodel the family home they shared.
``The lady at the bank said this money will open doors for us,'' Sykes said. ``But we won't shut our friends out of those doors. I don't think God can take this money back, but he can take the good sense I have to handle it wisely.
``I don't want that to happen.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
$4.8 million!
[Color Photo]
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Betty and Gerald Sykes with their grandson Derrick were all smiles
at the Smithfield store where they bought the winning ticket.
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Gerald and Betty Sykes had been living in this small family home
with Betty's sister's family. The Sykes plan to buy a home of their
own.
KEYWORDS: LOTTO by CNB