{"id":552450,"date":"2026-09-28T16:54:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T16:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newjerseyheadlines.com\/news\/story\/552450\/naomi-whitehead-americas-oldest-person-celebrates-116th-birthday.html"},"modified":"2026-09-28T16:54:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T16:54:24","slug":"naomi-whitehead-americas-oldest-person-celebrates-116th-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/story\/552450\/naomi-whitehead-americas-oldest-person-celebrates-116th-birthday.html","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Whitehead, America\u2019s Oldest Person, Celebrates 116th Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"float:right;width:250px;padding:8px 10px 10px 10px\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globalnewslines.com\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790588477.jpg\" style=\"border:none !important\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-29\" title=\"Naomi Whitehead, America&rsquo;s Oldest Person, Celebrates 116th Birthday\" src=\"https:\/\/www.globalnewslines.com\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790588477.jpg\" alt=\"Naomi Whitehead, America&rsquo;s Oldest Person, Celebrates 116th Birthday\" width=\"225\" height=\"337\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-style:italic;padding:8px 0px\">Naomi Whitehead, the oldest living person in the United States and the second-oldest living person in the world, celebrated her 116th birthday on September 26, 2026, surrounded by generations of family members who traveled from across the country.<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>GREENVILLE, Pennsylvania &#8211; September 28, 2026 &#8211;<\/strong>&nbsp;Whitehead, born Naomi Washington on September 26, 1910, in Georgia, is recognized by LongeviQuest as the:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<li>Oldest living American &mdash; <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/longeviquest.com\/atlas\/country\/united-states?orderBy=age&amp;direction=descending&amp;living=living\">View ranking<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Second-oldest living person in the world &mdash; <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/longeviquest.com\/atlas\/world?living=living\">View ranking<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ninth-oldest verified American ever &mdash; <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/longeviquest.com\/atlas\/country\/united-states\">View ranking<\/a><\/li>\n<li>33rd-oldest verified person ever &mdash; <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/longeviquest.com\/atlas\/world\">View ranking<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/longeviquest.com\/2026\/09\/naomi-whitehead-americas-oldest-person-turns-116\/\"><br \/>Read LongeviQuest&rsquo;s original article on Whitehead&rsquo;s 116th birthday.<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The celebration in Greenville drew approximately 80 to 90 guests and also served as a family reunion. Organized by two of Whitehead&rsquo;s local grandchildren, the gathering included several of her great-great-great-grandchildren. A great-niece used the occasion to collect family histories and memories from attendees.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Family members wore matching blue shirts featuring photographs of Whitehead and a gold &ldquo;116&rdquo; on the front, with each person&rsquo;s relationship to her identified on the back. Whitehead wore a sparkling blue outfit of her own.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">She was greeted enthusiastically upon entering the party and remained for nearly two hours. Early in the celebration, Whitehead posed for a group photograph with her relatives before taking additional photographs with individual family groups.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Representatives of LongeviQuest, the longevity records partner of Guinness World Records, attended and presented Whitehead with a plaque recognizing her as America&rsquo;s Oldest Person. Pennsylvania state senator Michele Brooks also presented a proclamation in her honor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">&ldquo;Naomi Whitehead&rsquo;s 116th birthday is not only an extraordinary longevity milestone, but a celebration of a remarkable life,&rdquo; said Ben Meyers, Founder and CEO of LongeviQuest. &ldquo;Seeing so many generations of her family come together from across the country to honor her was a powerful reminder that these records are ultimately about people, families, and the history they carry with them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Photographs from throughout Whitehead&rsquo;s life were displayed at the front of the room and reproduced on her birthday cake. Guests shared a home-style meal including chicken and ham, along with punch prepared by Whitehead&rsquo;s granddaughter. Whitehead appeared to particularly enjoy the food and punch.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">One of the afternoon&rsquo;s most memorable moments came when a great-niece asked, &ldquo;How old are you, Auntie?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m 116,&rdquo; Whitehead replied.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The room erupted in cheers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">After the proclamation was read, Whitehead retired upstairs while her family continued the celebration.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Whitehead became the oldest living person in the United States on October 22, 2024, following the death of Elizabeth Francis. On February 10, 2026, following the death of Marie-Rose Tessier of France, she became the second-oldest living person in the world, behind Ethel Caterham of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>FOR MORE INFORMATION ON NAOMI WHITEHEAD:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Biography: https:\/\/longeviquest.com\/supercentenarian\/naomi-whitehead\/<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>About LongeviQuest<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">LongeviQuest researches, verifies and documents the world&rsquo;s oldest people and is the longevity records partner of Guinness World Records.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Media Contact<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Ben Meyers, LongeviQuest<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">benmeyers@longeviquest.com<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"UXqzFL0OKK\"><p class=\"caps\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longeviquest.com\/\">Home<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Home&#8221; &#8212; LongeviQuest\" src=\"https:\/\/longeviquest.com\/embed\/#?secret=7YSa1rkSbO#?secret=UXqzFL0OKK\" data-secret=\"UXqzFL0OKK\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style='font-size:18px !important'>Media Contact<\/span><br \/><strong>Company Name:<\/strong> Longeviquest<br \/><strong>Contact Person:<\/strong> Media Contact<br \/><strong>Email:<\/strong> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href='http:\/\/www.universalpressrelease.com\/?pr=naomi-whitehead-americas-oldest-person-celebrates-116th-birthday'>Send Email<\/a><br \/><strong>Country:<\/strong> United States<br \/><strong>Website:<\/strong> <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/longeviquest.com\" target=\"_blank\">longeviquest.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getnews.info\/press_stat.php?pr=naomi-whitehead-americas-oldest-person-celebrates-116th-birthday\" alt=\"\" width=\"1px\" height=\"1px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Naomi Whitehead, the oldest living person in the United States and the second-oldest living person in the world, celebrated her 116th birthday on September 26, 2026, surrounded by generations of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552450"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northcarolinaheadlines.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}