Betty Reid Soskin, oldest U.S. park ranger, retires at age 100
She’s hanging up her Smokey hat.
Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest active park ranger in the country, is ready to relax.
The 100-year-old civil rights activist, musician, and pioneering businesswoman retired Thursday, after working for more than 15 years at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, Calif., the National Park Service said in a statement.
“Betty has made a profound impact on the National Park Service and the way we carry out our mission,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams. “I am grateful for her lifelong dedication to sharing her story and wish her all the best in retirement. Her efforts remind us that we must seek out and give space for all perspectives so that we can tell a more full and inclusive history of our nation.”
Soskin, who founded one of the first Black-owned record stores in the California Bay Area with her first husband Mel Reid in 1945, spent most of her life as an accomplished musician and activist, according to a Park Service biography.
She worked for the U.S. Air Force in 1942 but after learning that “she was employed only because her superiors believed she was white,” she decided to quit.
After confronting a lieutenant — who told her that everyone at the base was “willing” to work with her — she “promptly and defiantly left the Air Force” and found a job as a file clerk at the Black auxiliary lodge of the International Boilermakers Union in Richmond.
She began her NPS career in 2000, at the age of 84, after attending a presentation on the development of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park.
In 2011, she became a permanent NPS employee, and for over a decade she led public programs while sharing her personal stories with visitors.
“To be a part of helping to mark the place where that dramatic trajectory of my own life, combined with others of my generation, will influence the future by the footprints we’ve left behind has been incredible,” said Soskin.
Naomi Torres, acting superintendent of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park said that Soskin “used stories of her life on the Home Front, drawing meaning from those experiences in ways that make that history truly impactful for those of us living today.”
“Being a primary source in the sharing of that history — my history — and giving shape to a new national park has been exciting and fulfilling,” the newly-retired ranger said. “It has proven to bring meaning to my final years.”
The NPS is “grateful to Ranger Betty for sharing her thoughts and first-person accounts in ways that span across generations,” Torres added.
An event to celebrate Soskin’s life and service is scheduled for April 16. The recognition ceremony in Richmond, Calif. will be open to the public. More information can be found here.
