She was already 58 years old when humans first orbited the Moon during Apollo 8.
A year later, she was 58 going on 59 when Apollo 11 landed on the lunar surface.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on another world. NASA records Apollo 11 as the first crewed lunar landing, with the mission launching on July 16 and landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969.
Imagine being born in an era when aviation was still developing and then watching human beings walk on the Moon less than six decades later.
For Naomi, the Moon landing was not ancient history.
It happened during her lifetime.
She was alive when people watched those historic images on television.
And television itself was another revolutionary technology she had witnessed rise from novelty to an everyday part of life.
From Radio to Smartphones
The technological transformation of Naomi Whitehead's lifetime is difficult to overstate.
When she was a child, radio was still developing as a mass communication technology.
Television would later transform entertainment and news.
Then came transistors, computers, satellites, space exploration, digital technology, and eventually the internet.
The pace of change accelerated dramatically during the second half of the twentieth century.
By the time Naomi was an older adult, computers had gone from enormous machines occupying specialized rooms to devices that could sit on a desk.
Then computers became portable.
Then they became handheld.
Eventually, the device in a person's pocket became a camera, telephone, newspaper, television, map, music player, bank, library, and communication system all at once.
Naomi's lifetime therefore covers an extraordinary technological arc:
From an agricultural childhood in rural Georgia to an era in which artificial intelligence can generate text, images, music, and computer code within seconds.
Few people have personally experienced such a dramatic transformation from one technological age to another.
The Personal History Behind the Public Milestone
Yet the most important part of Naomi Whitehead's story is not technology.
It is family.
Extreme longevity is sometimes reduced to a number: 100, 110, or 116.
But every additional year represents another collection of experiences.
Birthdays.
Marriages.
Children.
Work.
Celebrations.
Illnesses.
Losses.
Ordinary afternoons.
Unexpected challenges.
And memories.
Naomi experienced profound personal loss during her long life.
Her husband, Sylvester, died decades ago. She also eventually outlived all three of her sons. Her last surviving son died in 2011, when Naomi was already 100 years old.
That detail adds another dimension to her story.
Living to an extraordinary age does not mean escaping grief.
In fact, extreme longevity can mean witnessing the passing of many people who were once central to your life.
Naomi nevertheless continued forward.
Her family remained an important part of her life, and relatives have described her as a source of family stories and memories that might otherwise have disappeared.
That may be one of the most valuable things an exceptionally long life can provide.
Memory.
A person who was born in 1910 can carry firsthand stories from a world that no longer exists.
The Woman Behind the Number
Despite the enormous historical significance surrounding her age, Naomi's interests are remarkably familiar.
She has enjoyed cooking, baking, drawing, and listening to music. Family members have also described her as someone who enjoys telling stories and remembering the past.
Those details matter because they remind us that extraordinary longevity does not necessarily look extraordinary from the inside.
A 116-year-old woman may still enjoy food.