The senior active ranger of the National Park Service announced his retirement at age 100.
Betty Reed Soskin’s last day was Thursday at World War II Rosie the Riveter / Main Front National Historic Park in Richmond, California, where she conducted public programs and shared her war experiences with visitors.
“Being the primary source of sharing this story – my story – and shaping the shape of the new national park has been exciting and enjoyable,” Soskin said. National Park Service Statement. “Only now did he find out.
Soskin was born in Detroit in 1921 and his Cajun-Creole family moved to Louisiana when he was young. They moved again! In California After hundreds of thousands of people fled with others The Great Mississippi Flood 1927
During World War II, he was discriminated against while working in the U.S. Air Force before working in a separate union support service. In 1945 he and his wife Mel Reed opened Reid’s records Berkeley Music Store, which became an institution and, when it closed in 2019, the oldest record store in the state.
She was a political activist at the local and state levels and began helping design the Rosie the Riveter / WWII Main National Park in the early 2000s, which opened in 2001 to honor working women in World War II. He became increasingly involved in the park and became a regular employee of the NPS in 2011.
Soskin ha She was a staunch advocate To ensure that the experiences of black women were included in the park’s memory story. She also said she hopes her look will inspire black women.
“I still love this form,” she told the Today Show in 2015. “Part because it’s a mute message to every black girl walking down the street, in an elevator, or on an escalator. .. a career choice he may not have .thought.
The park plans to celebrate Soskin’s retreat in April.
Source: Huffpost
