COTTAGE GROVE (AP) — A Minnesota man got a bittersweet reminder of his late wife, after she won a share of a small lottery jackpot even though she died in November.

Paul McCauley of Cottage Grove jokes that his wife Ginny found one final way to get in the last word.

Ginny died of cancer in November.

She had never told her husband that in 30 years of working at a grocery store, she and two colleagues always played the lottery. Even after she got sick, Ginny kept contributing money.

Paul says one of the friends called him around Christmas, telling him he'd won a third of a $45,000 jackpot.

He says if Ginny were still alive they would have used the money to see their beloved Packers in the Super Bowl.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

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