Linda Richardson - Woods of Philippi has claimed a $25,000 prize from the “Cash25” drawing held May 13, according to Lottery Director John Musgrave. He said it was second time in three weeks that the game’s top prize had been won.

Recalling that years ago she heard a woman who won a lottery prize joke that she would give her husband back the dollar he had paid for her instant ticket, Richardson-Woods said, “Well, I’ll give Tommy a bit more than that. He picked the winning numbers, saying they had ‘rhythm.’”

For his part, Woods said he had won $250 from the “Cash25” game “about 50 times” over the years by picking his own numbers at random. “I felt the rhythm with these,” he laughed. The winning numbers were 1-11-16-17-18-21.

Richardson-Woods said she and her husband opened a new restaurant in Philippi last October.  Calling "Smokey Ray's" a place where “the sauce is the boss,” Woods said he and his wife plan to put their $25,000 win into a retirement fund. “We would never put our retirement into the restaurant.”

Richardson-Woods said they were watching the televised drawing, when the sixth “Cash25” number fell into place. “I nearly died, but Tommy acted pretty cool about it all.” With a distinct twinkle in his eye, Woods told his wife that he already knew they had won. “It was the rhythm.”

The couple share four children and five grandchildren.