Contributed

A quick stop for gas turned into a nice Mother’s Day surprise for one Catawba County grandmother.

Datina Rowland of Newton was driving to her daughter’s house to babysit when she pulled up at the Walmart on Northwest Boulevard in Newton.

“I had a few extra dollars in my pocket,” said Rowland. “So I bought some tickets to play for fun.”

She got back into her car and started scratching. One ticket won $4. A second ticket revealed no prizes. The third, a $5 Win It All ticket, produced the game’s top prize of $200,000.

“I was sitting in my car and I couldn’t believe it was real,” said Rowland. “It still doesn’t feel real.”

Rowland called her parents to tell them the news, then drove to her daughter’s house and showed her the winning ticket.

“We both just cried,” said Rowland. “You know, we all try so hard. We all struggle. We’re just working our butts off to survive. It was such a nice surprise for Mother’s Day to have a win like this.”

Rowland went to lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Monday to claim her prize. After required state and federal withholdings, she took home $141,501.

“I have a lot of priorities on my list that I want to take care of,” said Rowland. “I want to invest, help out my daughters and my grandbabies. My dad says I better do something nice for myself, so maybe I will take a vacation. I haven’t thought that far yet though!”