 Rita and Russell Hall celebrate their $7.1 million Lotto 6/49 win with their family in Toronto, ONt., Thursday, January 14, 2010. (QMI/Tamara Cherry)
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TORONTO -- Rita and Russell Hall's lotto destiny was thrown into motion a few weeks ago by a wedding ring that was just a tad too tight.
If not for Rita's knuckle stopping that ring from sliding down her finger, the Norwich couple may not be millionaires and Rita may not have been promised at least two or three new bras, as she was by her 87-year-old husband yesterday afternoon.
When the Halls got the call from the jeweller outside their small town south of Woodstock last Saturday that the ring was ready, Rita, 66, didn't particularly want to pick it up that day, but Russell said "Tough" and the pair were on their way.
Because Rita had her own cash, she didn't use the two $100 bills Russell handed her from his wallet, saved "from a casino venture a month or two ago," Russell said before collecting his $7.1-million cheque from the Toronto lotto office.
Russell suggested they go to the casino in Brantford.
"Oh no, I can't, I'm not dressed very well," he recalled his wife saying.
"That doesn't matter at the casino. Let's go," he shot back.
And so they went.
After a couple of hours and losing a bit of money, the couple were on their way. But first, Russell decided he'd buy a Lotto 6/49 ticket. The draw was that night, he said.
Rita got the car. Russell threw down $5 on luck.
The next day, the retired family doctor -- who worked until he was 77 and is the name behind Norwich's Russell M. Hall Family Health Centre -- was working on a stool for his shop when Rita came to him with a piece of paper and a pen.
"I want you to sign your name," she said without hesitation. It was his lotto ticket.
Rita called out the numbers. Russell double-checked.
"I said, 'We must have won something.' She said, 'I think we did.' "
The couple kept it a secret from the rest of their family until Tuesday night, after the funeral for Russell's brother-in-law.
"We must say that we're fairly delighted," Russell said.
He assured the media that the couple would have fun spending their new-found wealth on family, friends, their four-month-old golden retriever and, prompting a "shhhh" from Rita: "I'm going to send my wife out shopping -- she's got to get at least two or three more bras and three nightshirts."
TAMARA.CHERRY@SUNMEDIA.CA
