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Over coffee last week, Fiona told her elderly mother, Margaret, their family were the type who would never win anything and were destined "to work our arses off".
She reckoned they were people who "just don't win money".
They had never won a Lotto prize when they put some family birthday numbers down on a $12 ticket split between Margaret, Fiona, her sister Siobhan and her daughter Alicia, a young mother.
The Masterton syndicate was called "Irish Luck" after Margaret's husband, John, who came from County Longford in Ireland and died two years ago.
Fiona said her father was "always a bettor, loved the race horses, the Lotto and the punting".
The ticket was left to Margaret to check. She called Fiona on Wednesday night to say: "I think we've got the numbers." She was right, and now the syndicate is $36 million better off.
Family members drank pints of Guinness to John at Molly Malones bar in Wellington yesterday to celebrate their record jackpot.
There had also been a celebratory drink to him on Wednesday night, Fiona said.
"Dad had left a bit of Irish whiskey in the cupboard. My husband and my brother-in-law polished that off - it needed to be drunk."
Fiona, a nurse, said she would attend a scheduled study day today and Siobhan would go to her job at a bakery.
Fiona said they were a normal Kiwi family, and Margaret had "worked hard all her life just to put clothes on our backs when we were kids".
Just two weeks ago, Margaret was turned down for a bank loan for a small car. In a short statement she said: "I look forward to going and seeing my bank manager now."
A Lotteries Commission spokeswoman said a decision had been made not to name the bank.
Staff at Masterton's 10 O'clock Cookie Bakery-Cafe - where Siobhan has worked for four years - said she was a down-to-earth mother and until now a careful shopper.
"Every day after work she goes to Farmers and she has to buy the cheapest things, so it's just great that she won," one colleague said.
Speaking to the Herald at her elderly mother's home last night, a shell-shocked Siobhan laughed about her bargain-hunting.
"They'll probably up their prices when they see me coming now," she said.
She added that she hadn't slept all night, was "exhausted" and had concerns for her mother's safety following the windfall.
Bronwyn Hutching, a neighbour of Margaret, said she was delighted to hear of the win. She said Margaret was generally in good health, but had been in hospital several times with pneumonia, the last time only two months ago.
Mrs Hutching said Margaret had worked in the Navy in her younger days and was a keen gardener.
Pointing to the large lemon tree on her neighbour's front lawn, she said Margaret had told her that her late husband planted the tree 40 years ago.
"She's always outside in the garden. The only help she gets is the lawns - the rest of the time she does it herself."
Mrs Hutching said the win might help Margaret to pay for renovations to the home that tradesmen had been assessing recently.
Siobhan said she and her husband, David, a handyman, wanted to "pay off the house and put some money away for the kids' education".
Fiona said her priority would be her $30,000 student loan, from her recently completed nursing training.
The Big Wednesday jackpot also comes with an Audi R8 and a Porsche Cayenne, which Mrs Heaney could have had.
No decisions have been made, although Fiona said: "I quite like Audis."
