Gilpin family celebrates million-dollar lottery win in Allegheny Township

A Leechburg Area High School senior is having a summer to remember.

Summer St. John, 17, celebrated the news Tuesday of her mother’s million-dollar lottery win with a commemorative check presentation at the Giant Eagle in Allegheny Township.

Summer and her parents, Paul and Tricia St. John, shared hugs, smiles and a few happy tears during the brief presentation hosted by Pennsylvania Lottery officials.

“I had just got off from working at McDonald’s and came home. My mom told me she had won a million dollars,” Summer recalled after the presentation. “That she had won a $1,000-a-week-for-life prize. I thought it was a joke. I cried a little bit.”

After the shock of her mom’s winning ticket wore off, the family kept the good news quiet and made some practical decisions on how to spend their newly acquired, consistent income.

Tricia selected the annuity option from her Hasbro “The Game of Life” winning ticket sold at the Giant Eagle at 41 Towne Center Drive.

“We’re gonna fix up the house and get new windows and central air conditioning and get me a Jeep,” said Summer, who also studies computer information technology at Lenape Tech in Ford City.

The store will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.

Joyce Hanz | Tribune-Review

Pennsylvania Lottery winner Tricia St. John of Gilpin receives a kiss from her husband, Paul, as their daughter, Summer, 17, watches during a commemorative check presentation Tuesday at Giant Eagle in Allegheny Township. St. John won $1,000 a week for life playing a “The Game of Life” scratch-off ticket.

The St. Johns said the monetary windfall isn’t going to radically change their lifestyle, although the family is excitedly planning a vacation to Disney World.

“I’m going to keep working at McDonald’s and keep my plan,” Summer said.

Tricia, 50, is a bartender at the Leechburg Moose and grew up in Lower Burrell before moving to Florida and back to Leechburg as an adult. She has no plans to quit her job.

Tricia is no stranger to lottery winnings.

“I won $1,000 before once,” she said. “But this feels like a dream.”

On the day Tricia purchased the winning ticket, she was running errands and stopped at Giant Eagle.

“I purchased the ticket but found out I had actually won when I stopped at Sprankle’s (Neighborhood Market) in Leechburg,” she said.

Tricia raced home to tell Paul, 51, the news.

I told him: ‘We need to take a drive. I whispered in his ear, ‘I just won $1.04 million.’ He couldn’t believe it.” Tricia said. “I really like to play those ‘Life’ tickets. It’s that chance. You never know.”

“She forgot the creamer she went out for,” joked Paul.

Tricia said winning a million dollars took a temporary toll on her, physically.

“My heart was pounding so hard, and I kept checking the ticket, and checking. When I saw that number, my heart pounded,” she said.

The weekly lottery payment is scheduled to begin in July.

“I don’t think it’s going to change too much, but we’ll be less stressed about paying bills,” Tricia said. “I decided to come public, and I think it’s good news and people know that it can really happen — you can win. Winning a prize this big means we can live a little easier.”

Tricia and Paul have been married for 28 years and share a hobby of racing vintage dirt track cars. They own a 1949 Crosley, several street cars and a 1932 Ford Coupe.

The family isn’t the first from Leechburg area to hit it big with the lottery.

In 2020, Charity Stivason of Leechburg won $1 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket, and, in February 2023, a $200,000 jackpot-winning Cash 5 ticket was sold at the same Allegheny Township Giant Eagle.

Tricia’s advice for other hopeful lottery players?

“Play responsibly, and don’t be afraid to take a chance once-in-a-while. But don’t play out of your means,” she said.

Summer isn’t old enough to play the lottery quite yet. Players must be 18 or older. But she is considering trying her luck next year.

“With my mom’s luck, I might,” Summer said.