They’ve been lucky from the start.

When Molly McPherson and Derek Wolfe were first dating, they won a wheelbarrow full of beer from a Coupeville arts auction.

Last month, their run of good fortune made a giant leap forward. Instead of ale, this time the well-known Central Whidbey residents won wheelbarrows full of cash. More precisely, the husband and wife won the Oregon Lottery’s $7.4 million Megabucks Jackpot.

“It was exciting. It was very cool. Unbelievable,” said McPherson, a Coupeville family-law attorney. “It’s good to know that our children’s education is paid for.”

McPherson said the couple tried to keep the news of their win low key, mainly for the sake of their three children — ages 13, 11 and 2. She didn’t even want their names used in a newspaper story because she wants their lives to be impacted as little as possible.

“We have very good kids,” she said. “We let them know that if anything, we expect them to work harder.”

Both McPherson and Wolfe continue to work as usual. While they technically live in the south end of the Oak Harbor School District, McPherson said they tend to think of themselves as Coupeville residents.

Nonetheless, she said the news of the big win eventually started to circulate around the island. The couple had fun telling their friends all about the big news.

“Everyone has been very gracious,” she said. And no, she hasn’t suddenly been inundated by a raft of new friends.

While she doesn’t think there are Lamborghinis in the family’s future, she said they do plan to spend some of their money on their shared passion — historic homes. The couple owns a number of historic houses in Coupeville that they hoped to restore. Now they have the money.

In fact, the family was visiting their vacation home, a historic old farm in Oregon, when they bought the winning ticket from Ray’s Food Place in Jacksonville.

Remarkably, it was the second big lottery jackpot ticket sold from the tiny store in the last year. Last fall, the store sold the winning ticket for a $340 million Powerball jackpot.

Wolfe and McPherson chose to take their winnings as a lump sum payment, which mean they lose about half in taxes.

But they’re not complaining.

You can reach News-Times reporter Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611.