$1 Million Payday for Smyrna Duo

The celebration is in full swing for one Smyrna hairstylist and her client who won a prize from the Georgia Lottery. Ava Jenkins and her longtime friend Joan Lawrence, both of the Jonquil City, will halve a $1 million top prize playing $100 Million Cash Blast.

Both contributed to the purchasing of the ticket.

“I almost couldn’t speak,” Jenkins recalled in a press release upon discovering the prize.

Lawrence, too, was surprised.

“When she showed me, she was too calm and stiff. There was no expression on her face,” she said. “She told me, ‘We need to go.’ ”

Jenkins, 57, has styled hair in Smyrna for 38 years, and Lawrence, 64, is one of her clients.

The two dine regularly together at , 652 Concord Road in Smyrna, where they purchased the ticket.

A grandmother of two young boys, Jenkins plans to shop for them and save for retirement with her half.

Lawrence, retired six years from a phone company, also plans to save her half of the winnings.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $12.9 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 1.3 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1.1 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.

- The Georgia Lottery Corp., contributed to this story.