{"id":175676,"date":"2026-02-12T23:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/175676\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T23:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:17:13","slug":"celebration-of-life-for-betty-reid-soskin-set-for-march-1-in-oakland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/175676\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebration of life for Betty Reid Soskin set for March 1 in Oakland"},"content":{"rendered":"

A celebration of life ceremony for beloved retired Rosie the Riveter park ranger Betty Reid Soskin will be held at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts in Oakland on March 1 .<\/p>\n

The event will begin at 2 p.m and will be hosted by Richmond\u2019s Rosie the Riveter Trust. It is free though attendees are asked to reserve<\/a> entry tickets.<\/p>\n

The 104-year-old Reid Soskin, who retired as the nation\u2019s oldest park ranger, died peacefully<\/a> at her home in Richmond on Dec. 21 surrounded by her family.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss Richmond\u2019s biggest stories.\u00a0Get the Richmondside Report sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning.<\/p>\n

During World War II, Reid Soskin worked as a file clerk for the U.S. Air Force and, in 1945, she and her then-husband, Mel Reid, founded Reid\u2019s Records in Berkeley, a small black-owned business that specialized in Gospel music. Reid Soskin later became a civil rights songwriter in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

If you go<\/p>\n

What: Betty Reid Soskin celebration of life<\/p>\n

When: Sun., March 1, 2026, 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

Where: Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, 10 10th St., Oakland.<\/p>\n

Tickets: The event is free but tickets<\/a> are required.<\/p>\n

She was most well-known for joining the national park service at age of 85, where she told Rosie the Riveter\/WWII Home Front National Historical Park visitors the stories of marginalized World War II workers. She was also integral in the park\u2019s programming development, for which she received a presidential coin from President Barack Obama in 2015.<\/p>\n

In celebration of her 100th birthday in 2021, the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) changed the name of Juan Cresp\u00ed Middle School in El Sobrante to Betty Reid Soskin Middle School. (The Betty Reid school community, where she celebrated her 104th birthday last year<\/a>, shed tears Wednesday night as the board voted to move them<\/a> to Pinole Middle School as part of a round of budget cuts.)<\/p>\n

According to the event ticket website, there will be recordings played of Soskin\u2019s original songs from her music career as well as \u201ctributes from many people whose lives Betty affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related stories<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Teachers\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tFebruary 12, 2026Feb. 12, 2026, 11:23 a.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Betty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tDecember 21, 2025Dec. 22, 2025, 7:03 a.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Betty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 24, 2025Sept. 24, 2025, 10:08 a.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u2026 We have a small favor to ask.<\/p>\n

… Hey, we know many readers just scan headlines. By reaching the end of the article, you clearly value Richmondside’s in-depth coverage of our city. Would you consider chipping in to support our high-impact, trustworthy local news about Richmond? Our journalism is free for all, but not free to produce. If you value our work, please make a donation to our nonprofit newsroom.<\/p>\n

\t\tTagged: Betty Reid Soskin<\/a>,\u00a0Celebration of Life<\/a>,\u00a0rosie the riveter<\/a>\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Joel\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Joel Umanzor Richmondside’s city reporter. <\/p>\n

What I cover: I report on what happens in local government, including attending City Council meetings, analyzing the issues that are debated, shedding light on the elected officials who represent Richmond residents, and examining how legislation that is passed will impact Richmonders.<\/p>\n

My background: I joined Richmondside in May 2024 as a reporter covering city government and public safety. Before that I was a breaking-news and general-assignment reporter for The San Francisco Standard, The Houston Chronicle and The San Francisco Chronicle. I grew up in Richmond and live locally.<\/p>\n

Contact: joel@richmondside.org<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Joel Umanzor\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A celebration of life ceremony for beloved retired Rosie the Riveter park ranger Betty Reid Soskin will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[83744,68859,143,145,144,83745],"class_list":["post-175676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-betty-reid-soskin","tag-celebration-of-life","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-rosie-the-riveter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}