loading . . . Betty Reid Soskin, the nation’s oldest park ranger, is still discovering herself at 104 The family of Betty Reid Soskin, who retired as the nation’s oldest park ranger, died peacefully at her home in Richmond Sunday morning, her daughter announced on Facebook. She was 104.
The post said she was with her family when she passed away.
“She led a fully packed life and was ready to leave,” they wrote.
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Details about a public memorial will be announced later. In lieu of flowers mourners are asked to respect their love and respect for Soskin by making donations to her namesake school, Betty Reid Soskin Middle School, where she recently celebrated her birthday with a joyous gathering among admiring children and family members who sang her the birthday song and showered her with letters and cards.
Supporters can also support an effort to finish a film, “Sign My Name To Freedom,” about her journey to reclaim her own lost music that she had been too afraid to share. (Her memoir, published in 2018 is of the same name.)
A clip from “Sign My Name to Freedom,” a documentary about Betty Reid Soskin’s hidden life as a singer/songwriter and a Civil Rights pioneer , and her journey to re-explore her music 60 years later.
Word of her passing spread quickly on Sunday afternoon. Within 55 minutes of the announcement being posted, more than 300 people had paid their respects:
_She was a blessing to multitudes._
_A great one to always remember!!_
_A national treasure_.
_Oh, such a great spirit and wonderful author, speaker, and inspiration to so many people_
Reid Soskin is perhaps most famous for her 15 years of national park service, where she told visitors the stories of unsung marginalized World War II workers at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond. But many might not know that she before that was also involved in the park’s development, helping to ensure that the stories that were told there fairly represented the workers’ experiences. Her park service earned her a presidential coin from President Barack Obama.
But at her September birthday party, she told Richmondside in an interview that her life really began at 50, when she could finally focus on shaping her own definition of who “Betty” really was.
Betty Reid Soskin attended the 25-year celebration of the Rosie the Riveter park in Richmond last March. Credit: David Buechner for Richmondside
That new version of herself after 50 was many things. An established songwriter — she and her husband opened one of the first Black-owned music stores in Berkeley in 1945. A filmmaker. An author. And a storyteller of people of all colors. Put simply, she was a woman who rewrote what it means to be “middle age,” as she started her park service stint at age 84 and published her book at 96.
“We work to get to 50 but then we get there and we begin to wonder how long it’s going to be,” Reid Soskin told Richmondside. “We never stop to realize that that is exactly what it is. We only have today.”
A description of her book, at the time it was published, captured the incredible breadth of what her life bore witness to:
“In Betty Reid Soskin’s 96 years of living, she has been a witness to a grand sweep of American history.**** When she was born in 1921, the lynching of African-Americans was a national disgrace, minstrel shows were the most popular American form of entertainment, women were looked at suspiciously by many for exercising their right to vote, and most African-Americans in the Deep South could not vote at all.
From her great-grandmother, who had been enslaved until she was in her mid-20s, Betty heard stories of slavery and the difficult times for Black Folk that immediately followed. In her lifetime, Betty has seen the nation begin to break down its race and gender biases, watched it nearly split apart in the upheavals of the Civil Rights and Black Power eras, and, finally, lived long enough to witness both the election of an African-American president and the re-emergence of a militant, racist far right.”
Betty Reid Soskin greeted well-wishers at her 104th birthday party at Betty Reid Soskin Elementary School in El Sobrante. Credit: Jana Kadah/Richmondside
_Reporter Jana Kadah contributed to this report._
_This is a developing story. Check back for details._
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