'The small-town girl was gone'

Source: Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.mini storageNov. 17--CENTERVILLE -- A lot changed for Rhonda Welch in 1963. The Searsport, Maine, native graduated from high school and moved to Richardson, Texas, to live with her older sister and find a job in Dallas."I was 17 years old in a big city," Welch said. "Being a small-town girl, it was so exciting."On Nov. 22, 1963, Welch took a break from her job at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas to watch President John F. Kennedy's motorcade as it headed for the Dallas Trade Mart.When Welch got to Elm Street, there was "a throng of people," but she managed to get through the crowd."I don't know why, but I stepped off the curb, and the people in front of me just seemed to part," said Welch, who now lives in Centerville. "I could have reached out and touched the car."Welch doesn't remember the faces of the president or the first lady, but one image stands out in her mind: Jacqueline Kennedy's iconic pink suit, which only a few minutes later would be stained in blood.After watching t迷你倉e motorcade pass, Welch walked back to the bank, and she said she heard sirens on the way."Just thinking about it gives me chills," Welch said.By the time Welch reached the bank, Kennedy's fate had been sealed.The whole city was "very subdued" after the assassination, said Welch, who stayed in Dallas for two years before returning home to Maine in 1965."The small-town girl was gone," Welch said. "In many ways, I had changed. I had lived a life I never would have lived, had I stayed in Maine."In 1972, Welch moved to the Cape, where she raised a son and worked at Cape Cod Hospital and a doctor's office before retiring a year ago."I have mixed feelings," Welch said of that fateful day in Dallas 50 years ago. "It saddens me to think (the Kennedys) have had so much tragedy, and we never had a chance to see where Kennedy could lead the country."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Cape Cod Times (Hyannis, Mass.) Visit the Cape Cod Times (Hyannis, Mass.) at .capecodonline.com Distributed by MCT Information Services文件倉