$336.4M Powerball winner is 81-year-old woman

CRANSTON, R.I. (WHDH) -- A Rhode Island woman came forward on Tuesday to claim her $336.4 million Powerball jackpot.

Louise White, 81, purchased her ticket at a local Stop and Shop where she says it all started with a craving for dessert.

White, barely cracking a smile in Tuesday’s press conference, had one thing to say about her win.

“I’m very happy and I’m very proud and this will make my family very happy. We are truly blessed. Thank you,” said White.

White claimed the lump sum of $210 million under the name Rainbow Sherbet Trust, because a craving for the sweet treat is how it all started.

“A family member was going to the store that night and said, ‘Do you want anything at the store?’ [White] basically said, ‘I don’t want anything I want to go to the store, I want to purchase this ticket.’ It really was the rainbow sherbet, the craving for the rainbow sherbet from the family member, gave her the impendence to go to the store with them and bought the ticket,” said Jason Kurlend, White’s attorney.

On Saturday Feb. 11, White purchased the Powerball ticket was purchased at a Newport, R.I. Stop and Shop.

The winner of the sixth-largest U.S. prize was announced a few hours later -- White was watching, but it took her nearly a month to come forward and claim her prize.

“It’s very difficult for a lottery winner of this size to suppress the urge to run in the next day and claim their prize and get the money. And she did the right thing and she hired professionals who have the experience, who can work her through this process, which can be very exciting but extremely overwhelming and stressful. She did a tremendous job,” said Kurlend.

White’s attorneys said she was a regular lottery player. After winning, White kept the ticket in a Bible and slept with the Bible in her bed. The next morning she contacted her attorney to set up the Rainbow Sherbet Trust.

"It was unbelievable," White said in a statement released Tuesday by her attorneys. "None of us can believe it yet. We're excited, very blessed and will determine in the coming months how we'll spend the money but we know we'll always have rainbow sherbet."

"They're really great people. They're down to earth," one man said.

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