Ten years ago, a man at the Nebraska Lottery press conference called out from the audience to Chasity Rutjens.
Are you married?
"No," the then-29-year-old replied. "It's all mine."Â
It took a while for the laughter to subside, and not long for a few marriage proposals to come from out of the woodwork. She passed on those.Â
She's shared her fortune through donations, a charity she created and with another of the winners.
And she did get married. She married fellow winner Robert Stewart, and the two live quietly in a gated home on 17 acres of land outside of Malcolm.
Ten years ago, Stewart, now 40, sported shades and said little at the news conference introducing the winners.Â
Dressed in blue jeans and a plaid, short-sleeved shirt, his answers were straightforward and perfunctory. Asked how he felt after learning he had a winning ticket, he said, "I didn't know what to think. Still don't."
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He said then he had no idea what he'd do with the money or whether he'd stay in Lincoln.
Nine months after the big win, Stewart filed for divorce from his wife of three years and was living on an acreage near Denton.
Reached by phone last week, Chasity Stewart, 39, declined to comment, as both of them have done for the past 10 years.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7438 or cmatteson@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSMatteson.