A mechanic won $29.5 Million and he buys Toyotas...
Albuquerque Journal
Monday, June 2, 2008
Millionaire Marries
By Polly Summar
Journal Northern Bureau
LOS OJOS— What do you get a millionaire for his wedding? "We got him a blender," said Rosemary Madrid. "Just in time for margarita season."
Madrid and her husband, Joe, have been friends with lottery winner Felipe Piña for 20 years. The two owned a restaurant in Chama where their special stuffed sopaipilla lured local mechanic Piña into becoming one of their best customers.
It was at the Chama Giant Sundial gasoline station where Piña, 57, bought the Powerball ticket in May 2007 that won him the $29.5 million jackpot. He had run an auto repair shop there for 21 years.
While money seemed far from his mind at the family- and friend-filled gathering Saturday, watching him whisk a roll of hundred-dollar bills from his pocket to pay the judge who performed the wedding was a reminder that he's no ordinary mechanic these days.
The wedding to his longtime girlfriend, Adeline Maes, didn't seem especially opulent. In a sheet-metal building next to the San Jose Church, some 250 guests sat at long tables covered with pink paper tablecloths and sprinkled with paper hearts and cupids. Pink and white helium-filled balloons climbed to the ceiling and crepe paper ribbon draped the walls.
No expensive wedding photographer was hired, just Piña's longtime friend, Frank Martinez, a former school bus driver who now raises Rio Grande cutthroat trout for the state. "He was my mechanic in Chama," Martinez said.
"We're both Oakland Raiders fans. We go to a couple games a year."
Blaine Standage, who lives nearby, was Piña's best man. "I met him about 15 years ago," Standage said. "Our RV broke down, and he came out in the middle of a snowstorm to fix it."
It took three days for the parts to arrive, and then Piña came back to finish the repairs. "He gave me a bill for $500— I tried to give him more money and he refused," Standage said. "We've been friends ever since."
Rio Arriba County Magistrate Judge Alex Naranjo gave the couple his "standard" ceremony, reminding them "to give yourselves in love but not to give yourselves away."
Naranjo admitted he doesn't really perform weddings. He was in Los Ojos for Piña's wedding not because of Piña's loftier station in life post-lottery but because he's a friend of Piña's brother Walter.
Attorney Thomas Hooker had driven up from Albuquerque for the wedding with his wife, Dea. "I've done work for the family for 30 years," said Hooker, who helped the Piña family fight claims from land grant activists in the 1970s for their 37 acres in Los Ojos. Today, Piña also sends all requests from people wanting some of his lottery money to Hooker.
An Autotronic bingo board above the pink and white wedding cake provided a subtle reminder that it was a game of chance helped pay for the festivities.
The lottery winner and his bride had planned quite an evening for their guests after a catered dinner of roast beef and gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans.
"Al Hurricane Sr. and Al Hurricane Jr. are going to play tonight," said the new Mrs. Piña, of the legendary New Mexican musicians.
The happy couple will leave today for a short honeymoon in Las Vegas, Nev., and come home to watch their new home being built just up the road. "Did you see?" asked Piña. "Everything's been flattened. Only the building I put up to work on cars in is standing. We rented a house on the main drag in Chama until the new house is finished."
Designed to look a bit like the home Piña grew up in, the new place will be a Victorian with a wrap-around porch and a three-car garage. That should come in handy for vehicles Piña bought last year— a Toyota Tundra for himself and a Toyota 4-Runner for his wife.
A 40-by-50-foot insulated steel building newly built on the property is planned as a shop where Piña can work on vintage cars.
But he's still frugal, even when it comes to cars. His son, Phillip-Arthur Piña, 20, a student at Central New Mexico Community College, said, "When my dad told me he won the lottery, I said, 'Great, are you going to buy me a house and a Range Rover?' ''
Young Piña got the house, but didn't have much luck with the Range Rover.
"Fully loaded, it's $90,000 for the Special Edition," he said. "My dad said, 'That's too much.' ''
The son got a Toyota 4-Runner instead.
Albuquerque Journal
Monday, June 2, 2008
Millionaire Marries
By Polly Summar
Journal Northern Bureau
LOS OJOS— What do you get a millionaire for his wedding? "We got him a blender," said Rosemary Madrid. "Just in time for margarita season."
Madrid and her husband, Joe, have been friends with lottery winner Felipe Piña for 20 years. The two owned a restaurant in Chama where their special stuffed sopaipilla lured local mechanic Piña into becoming one of their best customers.
It was at the Chama Giant Sundial gasoline station where Piña, 57, bought the Powerball ticket in May 2007 that won him the $29.5 million jackpot. He had run an auto repair shop there for 21 years.
While money seemed far from his mind at the family- and friend-filled gathering Saturday, watching him whisk a roll of hundred-dollar bills from his pocket to pay the judge who performed the wedding was a reminder that he's no ordinary mechanic these days.
The wedding to his longtime girlfriend, Adeline Maes, didn't seem especially opulent. In a sheet-metal building next to the San Jose Church, some 250 guests sat at long tables covered with pink paper tablecloths and sprinkled with paper hearts and cupids. Pink and white helium-filled balloons climbed to the ceiling and crepe paper ribbon draped the walls.
No expensive wedding photographer was hired, just Piña's longtime friend, Frank Martinez, a former school bus driver who now raises Rio Grande cutthroat trout for the state. "He was my mechanic in Chama," Martinez said.
"We're both Oakland Raiders fans. We go to a couple games a year."
Blaine Standage, who lives nearby, was Piña's best man. "I met him about 15 years ago," Standage said. "Our RV broke down, and he came out in the middle of a snowstorm to fix it."
It took three days for the parts to arrive, and then Piña came back to finish the repairs. "He gave me a bill for $500— I tried to give him more money and he refused," Standage said. "We've been friends ever since."
Rio Arriba County Magistrate Judge Alex Naranjo gave the couple his "standard" ceremony, reminding them "to give yourselves in love but not to give yourselves away."
Naranjo admitted he doesn't really perform weddings. He was in Los Ojos for Piña's wedding not because of Piña's loftier station in life post-lottery but because he's a friend of Piña's brother Walter.
Attorney Thomas Hooker had driven up from Albuquerque for the wedding with his wife, Dea. "I've done work for the family for 30 years," said Hooker, who helped the Piña family fight claims from land grant activists in the 1970s for their 37 acres in Los Ojos. Today, Piña also sends all requests from people wanting some of his lottery money to Hooker.
An Autotronic bingo board above the pink and white wedding cake provided a subtle reminder that it was a game of chance helped pay for the festivities.
The lottery winner and his bride had planned quite an evening for their guests after a catered dinner of roast beef and gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans.
"Al Hurricane Sr. and Al Hurricane Jr. are going to play tonight," said the new Mrs. Piña, of the legendary New Mexican musicians.
The happy couple will leave today for a short honeymoon in Las Vegas, Nev., and come home to watch their new home being built just up the road. "Did you see?" asked Piña. "Everything's been flattened. Only the building I put up to work on cars in is standing. We rented a house on the main drag in Chama until the new house is finished."
Designed to look a bit like the home Piña grew up in, the new place will be a Victorian with a wrap-around porch and a three-car garage. That should come in handy for vehicles Piña bought last year— a Toyota Tundra for himself and a Toyota 4-Runner for his wife.
A 40-by-50-foot insulated steel building newly built on the property is planned as a shop where Piña can work on vintage cars.
But he's still frugal, even when it comes to cars. His son, Phillip-Arthur Piña, 20, a student at Central New Mexico Community College, said, "When my dad told me he won the lottery, I said, 'Great, are you going to buy me a house and a Range Rover?' ''
Young Piña got the house, but didn't have much luck with the Range Rover.
"Fully loaded, it's $90,000 for the Special Edition," he said. "My dad said, 'That's too much.' ''
The son got a Toyota 4-Runner instead.
