When Lightning Strikes

Two weeks after Betty Gloss won $6 million in the Illinois lottery last October, a police officer carrying a birth certificate visited the home of the winner and her husband Arthur. "I'm your son," the officer said to Mr. Gloss. "I'm Arthur Gloss Jr." As a bonus to the Glosses' monetary bonanza, the publicity from winning the lottery reunited Arthur Gloss with his three sons from a previous marriage, whom he had not seen since his divorce in 1949. The happy reunion is one of many unexpected tales, some joyful and others dispiriting, from among the 951 people who have become...

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