Oldest park ranger in America retires at 100, ending an incredible career
Betty Reid Soskin didn't start as a full-time park ranger until the age of 85 -- and the impact she made over the last 15 years promises to be everlasting.
By
Monica Danielle, AccuWeather Managing Editor
Published Apr 1, 2022 1:55 PM EDT
|
Updated Apr 1, 2022 1:58 PM EDT
The nation’s oldest park ranger speaks about her work uncovering the hidden history of Black Rosie the Riveters at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park.
Betty Reid Soskin, the National Park Service’s oldest active ranger, retired on Thursday at the age of 100. Soskin, who worked at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California, spent her last day as she had spent every other workday for the last 15 years: leading public programs and sharing her personal experiences and those of other women who worked on the home front in the Second World War.
“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,” Soskin said in a statement from the NPS announcing her retirement.
Soskin didn't just work at the park, she was an integral part of its inception. She was in her 80s, working as a staffer for California State Assemblywoman Dion Aroner when she began sitting in on planning meetings for the Rosie the Riveter National Park. The goal was to pay tribute to the home front workers of World War II with an experimental urban park that had locations scattered around Richmond, which is about 20 miles north of San Francisco, and the same city where workers produced hundreds of ships during the war.
As the only Black person in the room, Soskin knew that the dozen or more locations that would form the park were sites of racial segregation. She realized the story of the park was incomplete and began working to help shape the park's identity.
Her stories and input made a profound impact on the park service and its mission, the NPS director, Chuck Sams, said in a statement. "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," he said.
In 2007, after working with the agency on a grant to reveal “untold stories” of Black people’s efforts in the U.S. during the Second World War, Soskin became a permanent park employee at age 85.
"There is the story, which is a legitimate story, of Rosie the Riveter, white woman -- but there is also the story of many people who were beside them,” Soskin told AccuWeather last year from her home in Richmond.
Eventually, Soskin began publicly sharing the stories of women of color who worked on the home front during the war. Her tour, “Untold Stories and Lost Conversations,” routinely sold out months in advance. “When I first was working, I had a bus that carried about 15 or 20 people, and we would go out and follow the line for the scattered sites that form the park and I would tell stories about those sites," she said.
Ranger Betty Reid Soskin sits in front of the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Center. (Image courtesy of NPS/Luther Bailey)
Soskin's efforts have captured worldwide attention and even resulted in an invitation to the Obama White House where she introduced the president at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in 2015. She had her portrait taken by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. She narrated a commercial for The North Face clothing company last July and was profiled in The New York Times, which duly noted: "Watch even a brief online clip of one of her ranger talks, with her gentle but uncompromising tell-it-like-it-is style, and you understand her appeal."
“The National Park Service is grateful to Ranger Betty for sharing her thoughts and first-person accounts in ways that span across generations,” said Naomi Torres, acting superintendent of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park. “She has 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.”
Her retirement marks an incredible, full-circle moment for a woman born as waves of Jim Crow violence ravaged the United States, who grew up knowing her great-grandmother, a woman born into slavery who became free during the Emancipation Proclamation. 100-year-old Betty Reid Soskin has worked tirelessly to shine a light on the forgotten and untold stories of Black history.
"Being a primary source in the sharing ofâ¯that history -- my history -- and giving shape to a new national park has been exciting and fulfilling,” Soskin said. “It has proven to bring meaning to my final years.”
Click here to learn more about Betty Reid Soskin and watch one of her recorded programs.
Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park will celebrate Betty’s retirement later this month. Details of the event can be found on the park’s website.
For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
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Oldest park ranger in America retires at 100, ending an incredible career
Betty Reid Soskin didn't start as a full-time park ranger until the age of 85 -- and the impact she made over the last 15 years promises to be everlasting.
By Monica Danielle, AccuWeather Managing Editor
Published Apr 1, 2022 1:55 PM EDT | Updated Apr 1, 2022 1:58 PM EDT
The nation’s oldest park ranger speaks about her work uncovering the hidden history of Black Rosie the Riveters at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park.
Betty Reid Soskin, the National Park Service’s oldest active ranger, retired on Thursday at the age of 100. Soskin, who worked at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California, spent her last day as she had spent every other workday for the last 15 years: leading public programs and sharing her personal experiences and those of other women who worked on the home front in the Second World War.
“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,” Soskin said in a statement from the NPS announcing her retirement.
Soskin didn't just work at the park, she was an integral part of its inception. She was in her 80s, working as a staffer for California State Assemblywoman Dion Aroner when she began sitting in on planning meetings for the Rosie the Riveter National Park. The goal was to pay tribute to the home front workers of World War II with an experimental urban park that had locations scattered around Richmond, which is about 20 miles north of San Francisco, and the same city where workers produced hundreds of ships during the war.
As the only Black person in the room, Soskin knew that the dozen or more locations that would form the park were sites of racial segregation. She realized the story of the park was incomplete and began working to help shape the park's identity.
Her stories and input made a profound impact on the park service and its mission, the NPS director, Chuck Sams, said in a statement. "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," he said.
In 2007, after working with the agency on a grant to reveal “untold stories” of Black people’s efforts in the U.S. during the Second World War, Soskin became a permanent park employee at age 85.
"There is the story, which is a legitimate story, of Rosie the Riveter, white woman -- but there is also the story of many people who were beside them,” Soskin told AccuWeather last year from her home in Richmond.
Eventually, Soskin began publicly sharing the stories of women of color who worked on the home front during the war. Her tour, “Untold Stories and Lost Conversations,” routinely sold out months in advance. “When I first was working, I had a bus that carried about 15 or 20 people, and we would go out and follow the line for the scattered sites that form the park and I would tell stories about those sites," she said.
Ranger Betty Reid Soskin sits in front of the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Center. (Image courtesy of NPS/Luther Bailey)
Soskin's efforts have captured worldwide attention and even resulted in an invitation to the Obama White House where she introduced the president at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in 2015. She had her portrait taken by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. She narrated a commercial for The North Face clothing company last July and was profiled in The New York Times, which duly noted: "Watch even a brief online clip of one of her ranger talks, with her gentle but uncompromising tell-it-like-it-is style, and you understand her appeal."
“The National Park Service is grateful to Ranger Betty for sharing her thoughts and first-person accounts in ways that span across generations,” said Naomi Torres, acting superintendent of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park. “She has 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.”
Her retirement marks an incredible, full-circle moment for a woman born as waves of Jim Crow violence ravaged the United States, who grew up knowing her great-grandmother, a woman born into slavery who became free during the Emancipation Proclamation. 100-year-old Betty Reid Soskin has worked tirelessly to shine a light on the forgotten and untold stories of Black history.
"Being a primary source in the sharing ofâ¯that history -- my history -- and giving shape to a new national park has been exciting and fulfilling,” Soskin said. “It has proven to bring meaning to my final years.”
Click here to learn more about Betty Reid Soskin and watch one of her recorded programs.
Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park will celebrate Betty’s retirement later this month. Details of the event can be found on the park’s website.
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For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
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