Today marks the 50th anniversary of the shooting of President John F. Kennedy.

Local residents shared where they were, what they were doing and how they felt when they heard the sad news that our beloved president had been shot.Mayor Paul McArdle, Summit Hill: "It was awful," he said.McArdle was in the U.S. Army, stationed in Fort Gordon, Ga., when he heard the news on the radio.He was in the Signal School training to be a radio operator."I remember laying on my bunk on sick call because I had an infection following a tooth extraction," he said. "I heard the report on the radio that President Kennedy was shot," he said. "It didn't sink in until I heard it the second time," he said. "Part of me died that day," he said.McArdle said that ever since that day he cannot watch any reports or films of Kennedy's death."I've bought every magazine or book I can find about Kennedy, but I still can't make myself watch anything about that day on television," he said. "It was awful. I believe that most of the world still feels that way."McArdle said that the country was so different with Kennedy alive."There was so much hope back then when President Kennedy was alive and part of it died that day," he said.John Uzick, Tamaqua: "My memories of that sad day when President Kennedy was assassinated will never be forgotten. I was on a job interview at Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena, Calif., and in process of being transferred from one building to another, when an announcement came over the loudspeaker with the horrible, shocking news I will never forget."Uzick is a 1952 graduate of Tamaqua High School, from Tuscarora. He received a football scholarship to University of Maryland and graduated in 1957 as a mechanical engineer. His wife, is originally Gloria Davis from Tamaqua, was also a 1952 graduate. A few days after the JPL interview he interviewed Atlas Powder Co near Tamaqua. He accepted the engineering job with Atlas, moved home, and worked there 28 years. Their daughter, Elaine, was also a Tamaqua graduate in 1976.Colleen Rudelitsch, Lehighton: "The memory of that day is etched in my brain forever," Rudelitsch said.Rudelitsch was 7 years old and in a classroom at Mahoning Elementary School, Lehighton when her teacher walked into the room with tears streaming down her face."The time was near 1 p.m.," she said. "She looked so sad but she tried to keep her composure. She told us we would be leaving school early and that the buses were ready to take us home. But, she did not tell us why. Of course, I was excited to go home early and as soon as I got off the bus I ran into my house to tell "mama" I was home!"She remembers running into the living room. When her mood quickly changed."I found my mother and father both glued to the TV set, eyes filled with tears," she said. "My mother was weeping loudly and told me "Honey, something terrible happened. Someone shot the president. President Kennedy."She got home in time to hear Walter Cronkite tell the nation that the beloved president was dead.For days the family sat by their TV set in disbelief and watched and listened to the events that played out…the capture of Lee Harvey Oswald, his murder live on television by Jack Ruby."I'll never forget the funeral procession for JFK…the horse without a rider, the constant beating of the drums, Mrs. Kennedy's veiled face," she said. "I pray our nation will never have to experience such sorrow again."Elizabeth Lennon, Lake Harmony: "I was working in the secretarial pool in Harrisburg in either 1961 or 1962," Lennon said. "I had gotten a job through State Rep. Ike Bonner. "It was a Democratic majority and back then you could pay $100 and go to this state dinner at the Farm Show Complex."Her cousin was a state trooper and with his help, she and her girlfriend were able to get seats up front and be up close in the line when President Kennedy walked past."I can't say that I shook his hand, but I know that I touched it," she said.Later, President Kennedy spoke to the crowd and she and her friend were in the front row."I was working as a secretary at the Beryllium Corporation Company in the personnel department when I walked into a meeting and told them that Kennedy had died," she said. "I couldn't understand their reaction at the time. They didn't seem too upset. It was later that I found out we had a man working at the company with the same name and they thought it was him."Joan Gerber, Nesquehoning: "I was 19 and living in an apartment above the Tmes News office on Race Street in Jim Thorpe when I heard the news come across the television. I went downstairs and walked across the newsroom to Cy Apfelbaum. "When he saw me, he asked "Are you all right?" she said. "I must have gone white."She then told Apfelbaum that President Kennedy was shot and Cy went to the ticker tape machine.She said that then all of the staff members, William Osmola, Al Heany, Cy and Gertrude Apfelbaum, Joe Boyle and Nate Dermott then came upstairs to her apartment and watched the story unfold on her television."My apartment was like a morgue," she said.She said that the staff stayed until he was pronounced dead."I think about his death every year in November," she said.Mayor Paul McArdle, Summit Hill: "It was awful," he said.McArdle was in the U.S. Army, stationed in Fort Gordon, Ga., when he heard the news on the radio.He was in the Signal School training to be a radio operator."I remember laying on my bunk on sick call because I had an infection following a tooth extraction," he said. "I heard the report on the radio that President Kennedy was shot," he said. "It didn't sink in until I heard it the second time," he said. "Part of me died that day," he said.McArdle said that ever since that day he cannot watch any reports or films of Kennedy's death."I've bought every magazine or book I can find about Kennedy, but I still can't make myself watch anything about that day on television," he said. "It was awful. I believe that most of the world still feels that way."McArdle said that the country was so different with Kennedy alive."There was so much hope back then when President Kennedy was alive and part of it died that day," he said.Joan Quinn, Lehighton: "I was watching "As the World Turns," on television as I was feeding my five month old baby her bottle, when Walter Cronkite broke in and said that the President was shot. I remember when my husband came home that I was still in a fog. It was such a very sad time. For someone who was 23 at the time, it still seems like yesterday.Quinn was living in Philadelphia/South Jersey area when the president was shot, but she clearly remembers the time when she watched the President Kennedy motorcade pass by while she was attending Beauty Culture School on Walnut Street, Philadelphia."I remember all of us students hanging out of the window to see him," she said. "Our school was next door to the Bellevue Stafford and our school was facing Bellevue Court."Mary Jane Sterling, Summit Hill: "The day

J.F.K. was shot I was 18 years old. I was watching a game show, "Concentration," when they broke in with the news. My mother had left me a grocery list. We lived across the street from the Acme and I would do the shopping every day. I couldn't believe what I was watching. I took the list and went across the street to do my shopping. Inside the store, I told everyone there what had happened. I was the first one to tell them at the store at that time. Everyone was in shock. I couldn't believe something like that would happen. It was such a sad thing to relate to others."Barb Karish, Tamaqua: "I was living in Jamesburg, N.J., my husband was at work, and I was feeding lunch to my 1-year-old daughter, Terese, when the landlord knocked on my door to tell me that President Kennedy had been shot. Shortly afterward, my mother, who lived in Tamaqua, called me crying to say that he had died."Donna Lech, Tamaqua: "I was in third grade at Ditchburn school, at the corner of Penn and Green Streets in the South Ward of Tamaqua. My teacher was Mrs. Gaughn. She had a black rotary phone on her desk, she got the call from I don't know who and then she started to cry. I think it was about 1 in the afternoon when the call came. She was crying, but didn't tell us why, she sent us third graders home right after the call. Then I found out what happened on the TV. Sad day."For our full coverage of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, grab a copy of tonight's TIMES NEWS.