RICHMOND, Calif. — The nation’s oldest active park ranger is hanging up her Smokey hat at the age of 100.
The National Park Service says Betty Reid Soskin retired Thursday after more than 15 years at the Rosie the Riveter/World War Two Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California.
She helped found the park that pays tribute to the efforts of American civilians on the home front during World War II.
Soskin led tours at the park and related her experience as a Black woman working on the home front during the war.
Soskin was a civil rights activist and a businesswoman before she won a temporary Park Service position at the age of 84.
She became a permanent employee in 2011.
Her retirement party will take place this Saturday at the park.