Queen of Hearts jackpot winner is bus driver in Trumbull County

Staff report

AUSTINTOWN

The Warren woman who won the Barry Dyngles’ Queen of Hearts jackpot Sunday night didn’t call off work Monday morning.

Trumbull County Board of Developmental Disabilities superintendent Edward Stark said Molly Blair has been with the organization “for awhile” as a bus driver.

“We’re really excited for her – couldn’t have happened to a better person,” Stark said of Blair.

“If she wants to continue her employment, we’re happy to have her,” he added.

Blair won the $1.8 million jackpot at the Queen of Hearts drawing at the pub at 1601 S. Raccoon Road. She was not present for the drawing at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Barry Dyngles was closed Monday after general manager Doug Duganne said Sunday night that the pub would be open Monday. The pub had opened in the early afternoon on several Mondays in a row to allow workers to clean up the parking lot, among other things.

“We will be closed all day Monday to catch our breath. See you all Tuesday at 11 a.m.,” a note on the pub’s front door said.

Blair did not answer the door at her house Monday morning or evening and did not reply to phone messages left at her house.

A neighbor of Blair’s, Mary Brainard, said she is happy for Blair, who is kind to neighborhood children who like to play basketball beside her house.

“She deserves it. She’s a good person,” Brainard said.

“They mostly keep to themselves,” she said of Blair and her house mate.

Blair lives in a quiet East Side neighborhood east of ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital.