Twenty years of service in the United States Air Force has paid off for former Master Sgt. Marie Stevens of Ruston in a cool way.
Stevens was the winner of Albritton’s Service Company’s Veterans Giveaway and on Friday morning had a new Carrier air condition and heating unit installed at no charge.
“I needed an air conditioner so I just put my name in the contest to see if I could win one,” Stevens said Friday afternoon. “It’s already a lot cooler in my house. This unit is working a lot better than the old one.”
“I’m just so grateful to Albritton’s for holding the contest,” Stevens said. “It’s exciting. I still can’t believe I won.”
Rules stipulated that contestants must be an active service member or veteran and own a home within 30 miles of Ruston or be a current Albritton’s customer.
This was the second Albritton’s air-conditioner giveaway (the first was in 2017) and the company plans to continue it on a yearly basis, holding the contest in the spring and announcing the winner around Memorial Day and installing the new unit by July 4.
Stevens, a Baton Rouge native, served 20 years in the Air Force, working in equipment investigation at Loring Air Force Base in Maine, Plattsburgh AFB in New York, Hickam AFB at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and Barksdale AFB in Bossier City.
“My daughter (Tiffany Blundell) lived here so I ended up here,” Stevens said. “My grandson goes to school here and we all live together. It’s good to be part of their lives. I’ve lived here four years now.”
