Rest In Power: Notable Black Folks Who We’ve Lost In 2025 - Page 7

6. Betty Reid Soskin

Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest National Park Ranger, died on Sunday December 21st at age 104. In 2000, she found herself assisting with the launch of the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, while working as an aide to Dion Aroner, a California assemblywoman. Her experiences during WWII were pivotal to the park’s creation. “I was the only person of color in the room,” Soskin told Newsweek.

In 2015, she introduced President Barack Obama during the lighting of the National Christmas Tree, where she received a commemorative presidential coin. During the tree lighting, she carried a photo of her great-grandmother, Leontine Breaux Allen, who was born into slavery.

On her 100th birthday, Betty Reid Soskin retired from the National Park Service. That same day, the West Contra Costa Unified School District renamed El Sobrante’s Juan Crespi Middle School to Betty Reid Soskin Middle School. “I don’t know what one might do to justify a long life,” she said during the renaming ceremony. “I think that you have pretty much got it made.”

Soskin is survived by her son, her daughters, Diara Melitte, Kitty Reid, and Dorian Leon Reid, five grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and three nieces.

Rest In Power: Notable Black Folks Who We’ve Lost In 2025 - Page 7 was originally published on blackamericaweb.com