Jane Whitmore of Spotsylvania County has a big smile--and a big check for $100,000 from the makers of Dr Pepper. fja Visit the Photo Place

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Woman bubbles over with good fortune

Spotsylvania County resident $100,000 richer after winning soft-drink company contest.

By LAURA MOYER

Date published: 9/4/2003

By LAURA MOYER

Jane Whitmore's life changed with a pop--specifically, with the 20-ounce bottle of Diet Dr Pepper she opened one Friday in July.

Whitmore wasn't trying to win anything when she bought the soda from her office vending machine at the FBI Academy on Quantico Marine Corps Base.

But a contest promoting this summer's "X-Men" movie sequel directed soda-buyers to look under the cap, and she did.

Instead of the likely "Please try again," she saw a most unlikely "Winner $100,000."

Healthy skepticism told Whitmore, 50, that she hadn't really won a hundred grand--probably, she thought, she was eligible to enter a drawing to win the big prize.

But a co-worker dialed the number on the side of the bottle, and soon Whitmore was directed to photocopy her bottle cap, then send the original via certified mail to an address in Minnesota. If all checked out, then yes, she'd won.

She struggled to keep her mind on the road during the commute home to Spotsylvania County. That's where she lives with her brother, Bob, who is a retired federal firefighter, and several dogs and cats.

"Ask me what kind of day I had," she said casually, when Bob Whitmore came in from mowing the lawn.

He asked.

"I think I won $100,000."

Soon the Dr Pepper people sent confirmation and asked to present the check at the FBI Academy at Quantico, where Whitmore bought the soda. But that wasn't possible because of security concerns.

Instead, she was asked to show up at 10 yesterday morning at the WatchCard fuel station off a U.S. 1 access road in Spotsylvania. It was chosen because of its proximity to Whitmore's home and its pair of soda vending machines for a photographic backdrop.

It wasn't a particularly glamorous place to meet, and clouds threatened overhead.

But Whitmore was cheerful. Bubbly, even.

"They could have asked me to go to a pig sty, and I'd stand in it up to my knees," Whitmore confided after a session of handshaking and picture-taking.

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Date published: 9/4/2003