It’s tough to fit six grandchildren into a 600 square-foot apartment. Fortunately for Jill Denison, that’s not something she’ll have to worry about much longer.
Denison, 73, and her boyfriend Robert Rawson, 77, will soon move into a new, 3,000-square-foot home in B.C.’s wine country after winning the 2015 PNE prize home contest.
Denison said she only got one hour of sleep Thursday night, after Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson drew the couple’s names as winners in the contest.
She’s been buying tickets in the contest for 12 years, but didn’t actually have the winning one in hand when she saw her name announced on TV.
“I was over at Bob’s house watching the news,” she told CTV Morning Live of the moment she found out she had won. “But I didn’t have the ticket number. I didn’t have the ticket. And then he said it was someone from North Van, so I thought, “Oh, OK,” and then he said our names.”
Denison and Rawson each have six grandchildren, who they expect to be seeing a lot more of once they move into their new place -- worth an estimated $2.1 million -- sometime in December or January.
While they haven’t yet visited the location in Naramata to which the home will be moved, they’re looking forward to the view.
“It’s up on a hill in a winery area, overlooking Okanagan Lake,” Rawson said.
The couple has never lived together before, but they say they’re not concerned about cohabitating for the first time.
“It’ll be great,” Rawson said.
