Of all things we’ve won two microwaves

I don’t know if it is a record or not, but I have won two microwave ovens.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

When I won the first microwave, back in 1983, they were big and cost about $500.

At that time I was president of the Corbin Lions Club and we were having a raffle to raise money. Each Lions Club member was given ten tickets to sell for the microwave donated by the Hall-Watson Furniture Company.

Before I left home to go to our Lions Club meeting, which was held at Yeary’s Restaurant in south Corbin, I had not sold a ticket. So, as president, I knew that I should sell all my tickets so I wrote my sister’s name, Wanda Steele, on them and paid the amount due.

When it came time for the drawing and I called upon our waitress to pull out the winning ticket from the hundreds that were in the container. She reached in and gave the ticket to me.

Now, 39 years later I am confessing. The name on the ticket was, you guessed it, Wanda Steele. I was shocked and didn’t know what to say so I said, “Anybody know who Wanda Steele is?” There wasn’t a response and I told the club I would find out.

It was a legitimate drawing so I had the right to win. However, I didn’t tell my sister about the drawing. At the time she lived in Middlesboro. I took that big microwave home and we used it for many years.

We had a great Lions Club. A few of the members were Paul Hinkle, Jim Ferguson, Jim Lee Crawford, Don Karr, Bill Ed Cannon and “Fireball”Meeks. We would have 20 to 25 club members present every Monday night for our meetings.

Yeary’s was a great place to eat. We started out the meeting with two big bowls of soup beans that we passed around the table. After the meetings we would usually stand around out front and talk for a while. The guest speaker at one of the meetings was Carl Hurley, the comedian from East Bernstadt. At the time, he was a professor at EKU. He had us rolling in the aisle with laughter.

Me and my wife won the second microwave at a UK-Vandy football game. My good friend, Baker Reasor, gave me his tickets to the game. At halftime, the PA announcer said it was time for the “Big Blue Microwave giveaway.” It also had a value of about $500.

As we watched the scoreboard screen it stopped where my wife was sitting and we saw her picture on the screen. The announcer called out the seat number which was hers.

When I got back to Corbin I told Baker he won a microwave. He said he didn’t want it. We didn’t either and we ended up giving it to one of our daughters.

Of all things to win it has been two microwaves. I would have preferred of course to win the lottery or at least something with more value. But they were good microwaves.