Bill Stout, a trauma nurse who retired from Aspen Valley Hospital a year and a half ago, has developed a bit of a lottery ticket habit.

He said he spends between $6 and $8 a week on Colorado Lotto+ tickets at City Market in Carbondale, where he lives.

He’d won a couple of hundred dollars here and there over the years, but nothing special. Enough to support the habit.

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Then he used quick pick for the June 10 drawing. Boom, $3,896,039.

“I checked my numbers last Sunday and couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I took the ticket to City Market to the ladies who I have been buying my tickets from for years, Clarissa and Yaritza Santos.”

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The twin sisters immediately became giddy and checked it, verified it, pulled out their cell phones and took pictures. 

“They were laughing and shrieking, overcome with joy,” Stout remembered.

His win verified, all he had to do was go to Grand Junction to claim the prize. Only he doesn’t drive outside the Roaring Fork Valley anymore. Nearly 70, he lives in his one-bedroom apartment on Main Street in Carbondale where he moved 15 years ago.

“I don’t drive I-70 anymore, I will stick Highways 82 and 133, and I really live a simple life in town,” he said. He needed a ride to Grand Junction to claim his winnings, the cash option of $1,948,019, now safely in the local bank. Even for doctor appointments in Denver, he takes the train. 

Ski bum, interrupted

Stout came to Aspen after high school back east to ski the 1972-73 season. But he didn’t stay then. Mom and Dad had a little to do with that.

“My parents told me in spring of 1973 they were going to kick me out of our house permanently if I didn’t come back home and grow up,” he said.

He was off to New York University for three years, then City University of New York, studying to become a nurse. Soon he was in his career.

“I lived in New York for 30 years,” he said. “I first worked at a drug rehab facility in Queens. Then I was a common and critical care nurse, which is my background, at Maimonides in Brooklyn.”

Later he traveled to Virginia and West Virginia to help his parents as they aged.

“Once they passed, I had no reason to be on the East Coast. I was tired of the city trauma and longed for the beauty and sport of Aspen,” said Stout.

Stout was married while in New York, but he and his wife, Sarah, separated before his parents died.

“That’s when I knew where I was going,” he said.

He was hired at Aspen Valley Hospital as house supervisor.

“I had my nose in all the units,” he said. “I worked 12-hour shifts and was in each unit helping and supervising.”

For the last six years at the hospital he was the trauma nursing coordinator, before retiring in 2021.

Life outside

Besides the hospital, Stout has had two great passions: riding horses and paragliding. 

“I probably took over 30 people from AVH over the years to ride with Capital Peak Outfitters,” he said.

John Howe, part of the family owned outfitting business, was delighted to hear about Stout’s good luck.

“What? Really? Oh, it couldn’t have happened to a better cat,” Howe said.

“Bill is so awesome,” Howe said. “He always wants to show people what he loves so much in the backcountry and would take people who couldn’t afford the ride and pay for it. He’s that kind of guy. He just wanted people to feel the joy and passion he had for the backcountry.” 

Howe said he’s excited get on the trail with the lotto winner and hear the story first hand. 

As for his other great passion, he’s been on dozens of flights with Aspen Paragliding and owner Alex Palmaz. 

“I even took out 20 people from AVH with me who never thought they could do it, but they did,” said Stout.

“He is a sweetheart, and you know what, he deserves it,” said Palmaz. “He reached out to me years ago and asked if I could help get some of his coworkers from the hospital on a trip. He would tell me how hard they worked, even outside of their routines, to help patients and he really wanted them to be honored and rewarded.”

Stout would gather everyone together and make it happen.

“He is just so cool, he always rallied everyone. He was like their commando leader. We even took out Dave Ressler, the CEO of AVH, on one of Stout’s trips,” said Palmaz. 

Stout also loves to hike, and Mt. Sporis is his favorite mountain in the world, and Carbondale his favorite community in the world.

“When I first came back to the valley, I lived in Aspen,” he said. “But it wasn’t the Aspen I remembered from the 1970s. That’s when I moved to Carbondale and knew this was my last stop.”

Seen it all, ‘cept maybe one place

His grandest scheme for the lotto winnings is a train trip to the Grand Canyon.

“I’ve seen just about everything I have wanted to see, visited almost all my bucket-list destinations, bummed around in the 1970s and 1980s,” he said. “I have no desire to go anywhere. This is my last rodeo. The most eccentric thing I want to do is go there.”

He said he keeps life simple. He doesn’t eat out much, aside from his favorite spicy shrimp pad Thai from Mings. He shops weekly at City Market, where focuses on the organic, locally-grown produce.

“I’ve been very fortunate in the valley with colleagues and community who have looked out for me,” he said. 

What’s going to be a little simpler is his finances. He lives on a fixed-income and will have less to worry about now.

Throughout his lotto tenure, there were weeks he didn’t play due to lack of funds. Luckily, last week wasn’t one of them.