WATERVILLE — Sue Quimby had never even driven a new vehicle, let alone owned one.

The 62-year-old Palmyra woman on Thursday came to Waterville to collect a brand new $43,489 Toyota Tundra SR5 double cab pickup truck at Central Maine Motors Auto Group that she won in a national contest, the Bassmaster Toyota Ultimate Tundra Giveaway sponsored by BASS, LLC.

“Oh, my gosh,” she said. “I just can’t believe it.”

Quimby’s daughter, Alice Humphrey, 30, drove her mother to pick up her new vehicle and would drive her back home in it, as Quimby said she was too excited and nervous to drive.

“When I get calmed down, then I’ll try,” she said.

Winning the grand prize couldn’t have happened to a nicer person, her daughter said.

Quimby, who has five children but is divorced, worked hard all her life in the laundry department of a nursing home. She also baby-sat a lot, but she had to stop working because she became disabled with fibromyalgia and is in pain a lot of the time.

“She’s always had it kind of tough,” Humphrey said. “It’s never been simple for her. She had to lug water. It’s been rough. She had to fight for everything. She applied for disability in 2007 and just got it this year.”

Humphrey and her husband, Amos, sold their home in Newport and, with their three children, moved in with Quimby to help.

Quimby, a quiet woman with long, graying hair and a brilliant smile, said she has spent the last eight years entering contests, spending about half of each day doing that. She entered the Bassmaster contest online, though she conceded she does not fish, but her family members do.

“This is the first big prize I’ve ever won,” Quimby said. “I’ve won small things, a fish tank and some movies. That’s pretty much it. I started with Publishers Clearinghouse. I started out small at first. I spent a half a day entering them, and it’s paid off. If anybody wants advice how to win, just keep at it. I just keep at it. If you want to win, you can’t give up.”

Quimby said she was notified recently by email that she had won the truck, just before she was to go into the hospital for hernia surgery.

“I had to read it twice before I realized what happened,” she said. “I was excited. I hollered at first. Alice’s husband came out of the bathroom wondering what’s wrong.”

Alice Humphrey said her mother has been “jumping for joy” since she learned she won the vehicle.

“My brother said, ‘Are you sure you’re not getting wrapped up into a scam?'” Humphrey recalled, adding that she checked it out and it was legitimate.

Quimby, a 1974 Skowhegan Area High School graduate, was sitting in the showroom of Central Maine Motors on Thursday morning with Tim Forsman, who is a creative and marketing associate.

He said Toyota contacted the business to say Quimby had won a truck and would be coming in to retrieve it.

“Toyota makes great vehicles, and the Tundra is the top of the line as far as a pickup,” Forsman said. “That truck should give you a long life of use.”

He agreed that the win for Quimby could not have happened to a nicer person.

“You’ve worked hard to get to where you are, and it’s nice you’ll have something to help you,” he told her. “We’re glad we’re playing a part in it.”

Quimby smiled and said the truck will last her the rest of her life.

“At my age, I shouldn’t need another one, I wouldn’t think.”

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17

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