The nation’s oldest national park ranger was beaten this week in her Richmond, Calif., home and robbed of her prized possessions, including a commemorative coin President Obama gave her in December.
Betty Reid Soskin, 94, of Richmond was attacked in her town home about midnight Monday, according to the Richmond Police Department.
Soskin told KTVU-TV she woke up to find a man with a flashlight standing near her. She reached for her cellphone, but he grabbed it from her and they struggled. She screamed as her attacker dragged her from the bed through a hallway, where he struck her a couple of times on the side of her face. She thought “he was going to kill me,” she told the news station.
Somehow Soskin mustered all her strength and was able to lock herself inside a bathroom, where she remained until he left, the news station reported. Fearing he would come at her again, Soskin said she plugged in an iron and was prepared to strike and brand him.
Her attacker stole several personal belongings, including the presidential coin given to her by Obama at the national tree-lighting ceremony in December. The coin was embossed with the presidential seal.
Soskin maintains a detailed blog about her life, and in it she describes receiving her trip to Washington, D.C., in December and meeting Obama.
Soskin is a ranger at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, where she leads tours and provides a detailed history of women who worked in factories during wartime. She began working with the park service at 85.
On Thursday, the national park said Soskin was recovering.