When Debbie Truckermiller saw on Facebook that a $1 million Powerball ticket was sold at the Giant where she’d recently bought one, she didn’t think much of it.
“I texted my husband and said, ‘Oh, I guess we should check our ticket when we get home,’” said Truckermiller of Exeter Township.
Dinner that night seemed more pressing than the faint possibility of winning a jackpot. It wasn’t until halfway through doing the dishes that Truckermiller again remembered the ticket.
As she read down the list of numbers, the reality of her absurd luck began to set in.
Her excitement spiked with each matching digit.
“I started jumping up and down and calling my husband, (asking) please check these numbers,” Truckermiller said. “Am I reading them right?”
Charles and Debbie Truckermiller try their luck again on Thursday Nov. 13, 2025, after winning $1 million in a Powerball drawing at the Giant, 4655 Perkiomen Ave., Exeter Township. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
From there, it all spiraled up.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” Truckermiller said. “We called our kids right away to let them know.”
On Thursday, Truckermiller was gifted her gargantuan prize in the form of an appropriately large check, courtesy of Pennsylvania Lottery.
Officials from the lottery and Giant in Exeter, where the ticket was sold Nov. 1, were on-site to hand over the check and congratulate Truckermiller and her husband, Charles.
“On behalf of the Pennsylvania Lottery, we’re thrilled to celebrate Debbie’s win,” said Drew Svitko, Pennsylvania Lottery executive director. “During the season of giving, we’re proud to see how lottery proceeds help provide meals, transportation and essential services for seniors.”
Truckermiller said she wasn’t a regular ticket buyer but would buy them sometimes while shopping at Giant, especially when the prize pool was high.
Truckermiller was the second shopper this year at the Giant on Perkiomen Avenue to win a million-dollar prize, lottery officials noted.
They said there were over 90 winners of prizes over $1 million last year.
Officials noted that Truckermiller’s ticket was one digit away from the winning Powerball number.
She drew a 22 instead of the 23 she would’ve needed to claim the entire jackpot, which at the time was $400 million, or $190 million cash.
That number has now increased to $546 million, or $255 million cash, officials said in a release. The next Powerball drawing is Nov. 15.
Now that their portion of the pot is in hand, the Truckenmillers are looking forward to spending some of it on a long trip next summer.
As for the rest, Truckenmiller said she plans to spruce up her home, pay off her kids’ student loan debt and invest the leftovers.
Although she said the money might move up her timeline for retirement, Truckermiller has no plans of leaving her career in the wealth in trust industry soon.
Lottery officials noted that more than 36,600 other Powerball tickets won prizes of various amounts in the Nov. 1 drawing.
“Congratulations to Debbie and her family on this exciting win,” said Pat Browne, Pennsylvania secretary of revenue. “We often say that when you play, our seniors win because every lottery ticket sold helps fund vital programs that support older Pennsylvanians. We’re very proud of the fact that our lottery has generated more than $37.2 billion to benefit older Pennsylvanians since we sold our very first ticket in 1972.”
State initiatives supported by the lottery include programs to help seniors afford property tax and rent rebates, prescription drug funding, meals on wheels and other transportation programs, senior and area agencies on aging.
For more information on the lottery, visit palottery.pa.gov.