{"id":5743,"date":"2026-10-01T23:12:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T23:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/?p=5743"},"modified":"2026-10-01T23:12:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T23:12:30","slug":"naomi-whitehead-celebrates-116th-birthday-more-than-a-century-of-american-history-in-one-remarkable-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/?p=5743","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Whitehead Celebrates 116th Birthday \u2014 More Than a Century of American History in One Remarkable Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Naomi Whitehead Celebrates 116th Birthday \u2014 More Than a Century of American History in One Remarkable Life<\/p>\n

Naomi Whitehead has reached a milestone very few people in history ever see.<\/p>\n

Born Naomi Washington in Georgia on September 26, 1910, she celebrated her 116th birthday on September 26, 2026, in Greenville, Pennsylvania. The Gerontology Research Group recognizes her as the oldest known living person in the United States.<\/p>\n

Her lifetime stretches across an extraordinary period of history.<\/p>\n

She was already alive before World War I began and before many of the inventions and technologies we now consider ordinary became part of everyday life.<\/p>\n

Naomi grew up in Georgia and later married Sylvester Whitehead. Together they had three sons. Over the decades, her family expanded across multiple generations. By her 110th birthday, GRG reported that she had 12 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren, 49 great-great-grandchildren and three great-great-great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Her interests over the years have included cooking, baking, drawing, listening to music and sharing family stories.<\/p>\n

In October 2024, following the death of Elizabeth Francis, Naomi became the oldest known living person in the United States. Her age had previously been formally validated by the Gerontology Research Group in March 2023.<\/p>\n

On her 116th birthday, she reached another exceptional milestone.<\/p>\n

GRG noted that she became the first known American to reach age 116 since Edie Ceccarelli of California, who died in February 2024.<\/p>\n

A photograph of Naomi as a young child compared with an image of her today makes the passage of time especially striking.<\/p>\n

More than a century separates those moments.<\/p>\n

Her story is not only about longevity. It is also a rare living connection to generations of American family life and history.<\/p>\n

Imagine everything the world has changed since 1910. What would you ask someone who has lived for 116 years?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naomi Whitehead Celebrates 116th Birthday \u2014 More Than a Century of American History in One Remarkable Life Naomi Whitehead has reached a milestone very few people in history ever see. Born Naomi Washington in Georgia on September 26, 1910, she celebrated her 116th birthday on September 26, 2026, in Greenville, Pennsylvania. The Gerontology Research Group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5745,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5743\/revisions\/5745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storydosee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}