RALEIGH - Winning a car is an exciting event, but what’s it like winning two in a lifetime? Just ask Cecil Hicks Stephenson of Garner. She’s the North Carolina Education Lottery’s (NCEL’s) latest “Get Truckin’” winner and now the proud owner of a 2008 Ford F-150 Lariat pickup truck.

This isn’t the first vehicle Stephenson has won. Forty-three years ago, she entered another contest—this one selling subscriptions to the Garner News. According to Stephenson, whoever sold the most subscriptions would win a ’65 Rambler and it ended up being her.

More than four decades later, she tried her luck again. This time, she made a minimum $5 purchase on “Carolina Cash 5” tickets and received an entry form into the NCEL’s “Get Truckin’” promotion. Stephenson’s entry was drawn out of 57,000 received, and earlier today the NCEL handed Stephenson the keys to a fully loaded Ford F-150 Lariat. She also received a $1,000 gas card to go with the truck.

When asked if she ever thought she’d win, Stephenson smiled and exclaimed, “There’s always a chance!” She added that when notified of her win, she didn’t believe it, “I thought it was a gag.”

Stephenson, who has been retired from the Department of Motor Vehicles for 21 years, said she and her husband of 67 years, Waverly, plan to enjoy their new truck. Waverly says their current vehicles are “on their last legs,” so the win came at a good time.

The “Get Truckin’” promotion began July 14 and is a chance for “Carolina Cash 5” players to win one of five Ford F-150 Lariat pickup trucks, plus a $1,000 gas card to go with each truck. One truck is being given away each week for five weeks. Stephenson purchased her ticket and received her entry form at Webb’s Mini Mart on West Garner Road in Garner. She won her pickup truck in the third drawing, which was held Aug. 13.