RICHMOND, Calif.—The National Park Service (NPS) announced Mar. 31 that Betty Reid Soskin retired after more than 15 years at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California.
She celebrated her 100th birthday in September 2021. A middle school in El Sobrante honored her by renaming the school after her.
“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.
In 2011, she became a permanent NPS employee. There, she has been leading public programs, while sharing her personal remembrances and observations at the park visitor center.
“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.”
Soskin was a civil rights activist and took part in meetings to develop a general management plan for the Home Front park.
She was named California Woman of the Year in 1995.
In 2015, she received a presidential coin from Barack Obama after she lit the National Christmas tree at the White House.
In June 2016, she was awakened in her home by a robber who punched her repeatedly in the face, dragged her out of her bedroom and beat her before making off with the coin and other items. Soskin, then 94, recovered and returned to work just weeks after the attack. The coin was replaced.
She also was honored with entry into the Congressional Record. Glamour Magazine named her woman of the year in 2018.
Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park will celebrate Soskin’s retirement on Saturday, April 16 in Richmond.
