Residents gathered outside of Forest Hills Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Weatherly Monday with high hopes of seeing the solar eclipse, but Mother Nature cast some shade on their viewing party.

Staff members donned black T-shirts with gold lettering reading, “I Was There Solar Eclipse 2024,” as they handed out special eclipse glasses and took photos of residents eager to catch a glimpse of the skyward spectacle.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime event for most of them, but not for resident Patrick Quick of Hazleton, who witnessed one in 1962.

“I was in the Navy from 1959 to 1963. I was on the USS Northampton, a cruiser, out in the open sea,” he said. “It was beautiful seeing it on the open sea.”

On Monday, he sat looking up with a smile on his face, waiting for the high white clouds to pass and reveal the sun.

Clouds began rolling in right before the eclipse got underway at 2:07 p.m. across the region, and kept rolling over the facility.

With each break in the clouds, everyone raised their glasses to catch a peek of the moon beginning to obscure the sun.

“Here it comes!” staffers exclaimed as the partially obscured sun emerged from the clouds. “It’s coming out!”

Residents quickly adjusted their viewing glasses and looked up, as all heads craned toward the sun.

“I see it!” one woman said. “I see a piece of the moon!”

And just that fast, the sun slipped behind the clouds again.

Staff members encouraged residents to sing a song to the sun to bring it back out from behind the clouds.

“You Are My Sunshine” was the song of choice to coax out the sun, and out the sun came again!

Lynn Lane, who was originally from Langhorne, Bucks County, looked forward to seeing the eclipse, she said. She said and her husband retired to Coaldale.

“I think they said the last one was 2017,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll be around for the next one.”

Lane said she was always into astronomy and looking toward the night sky, and now was going to look at the sky in daylight.

This area did not see totality as areas in the western part of the state or upstate New York, but did get to see about 93% coverage of the sun - a rare enough event to have some area schools dismiss early to allow families to watch together, while others handed out viewing glasses.

Staff member Kelly Feaster had her daughters, Faith, 8, and Cora, 5, with her as they waited for the partially-covered sun to emerge.

Faith learned about the eclipse in school, where they showed a video from NASA of what they could expect, she said.

Her younger sister summed the experience up simply, saying, “It’s cool.”

The facility planned to serve refreshments such as Moon Pies, Sunny Delight and Milky Way candy bars, but the delivery didn’t’ arrive on time, one staffer said, but everyone enjoyed the afternoon outside.

That is until thicker, darker clouds began to roll in, and some residents began rolling their chairs toward the building.

Some residents and staffers remained and waited for the full eclipse, bringing out crocheted blankets to ward off the damp breeze that the rain clouds brought with them.

Activities director Denise Skrabak tried to keep the party going with them singing to the “Beer Barrel Polka,” and some even did the “Chicken Dance,” but the sun didn’t come back out … and few drops of rain came down.