72-year-old McDonald's employee can finally retire thanks to lottery

Many of us have dreams of retiring and just enjoying our later years, but few who work for fast food restaurants for their entire careers, like McDonald's, have the savings they need to retire. Nell Pierce-Boykin, a 72-year-old McDonald's employee outside the Atlanta area, was in that boat. She worked for McDonald's restaurants in the Atlanta area for 39 years before hitting it lucky with a $750,000 win in a Georgia State Lottery scratch-off game.

Pierce-Boykin paid off her house and replaced her '94 Buick with a new Toyota Camry. She now finally has the money she needs to stop working and do the things she's always wanted to do. She plans to travel more, especially to visit her daughter in Tampa, Florida. She told the local newspaper, the Clayton News Daily, that, "I have a 1,000 things I want to do now."

Even though she didn't earn a lot at McDonald's, she did build a world of friends and memories. She met her second husband, Joe Boykin, who was a regular at the Mt. Zion Parkway McDonald's when she managed the store there. He was an employee at the Clayton County Sheriff's Department when he came into the store regularly.