Naomi was born June 6, 1915, to Hyrum and Loretta Nelson in Cleveland, Idaho.

She was the oldest of four children and the only girl. Her mother passed when she was 13 years old. Naomi wanted to stay home and raise the boys but her father insisted that she attend school. He was able to convince her for a couple of years. She then quit and stayed home and helped her dad raise her brothers.

It was not easy. They had no electricity, and the first phone she remembers was a switchboard her grandparents set up in their home, which became the Smith Phone Company. Naomi said this was a box on the wall with party lines in which everyone was eavesdropping.

Naomi thinks the world of her dad who baked bread and kept the family going. All of us have reached at least 90.

As a young woman, they moved to Mink Creek, where she met her husband, Melvin Wilde. After dating for quite some time, they went to Evanston, Wyoming, and were married.

Melvin was drafted and sent to Washington, California, then Missouri for training. Naomi set up house with him in, as she put it, “stinky little apartments” and worked temporary jobs. She was working as a telephone dispatcher when Melvin was shipped overseas, so she came back to Pocatello. They sent letters back and forth, and Naomi thought she would never see him again but after two years he came home. It was like being strangers again, and they learned to solve their problems together. They moved back to Mink Creek to farm, and Naomi cried. She did not want to farm but it turned out that it was a good place to raise three boys.

Naomi taught her boys to play piano as she was the Mink Creek Ward organist for 32 years. Music was important to her and she spent a lot of time working with the area youth, teaching them to play piano.

Naomi has lived a long and full life. When asked how she has lived so long, she says, “Diet Pepsi and gambling ha ha ha,” but when asked again she said to “be positive and uplifting. No one wants to hear all your bellyaches. Being positive affects people in a positive way.”

Naomi is an amazing person. At age 101 she had a fall and broke her hip. The fall was due to having a bad knee. They replaced the hip but it was not healing the way it should because of the knee so they replaced the knee. The doctors said she was as healthy as a 70 year old so at age 101 she had a knee replacement. She was the oldest person to ever have a knee replacement done.

Naomi also went for a ride on a motorcycle at the age 101 and then after moving into Brookdale she again for her 102 birthday she went on another motorcycle ride. The Naomi we all know is an amazing and cheerful person that brings a smile to all that know her.