Little was born as Frances Mary Stotts in Appleton, Minnesota as the second child of DeForest Coleman Stotts and Canadian-born Mary Elizabeth “Minnie” Crough. She had an older brother, Vincent, and a younger brother, William. Three of her four grandparents were born in Canada, and all four of her maternal great-grandparents were Irish.

Little graduated from Appleton High School in 1918. She began teaching shortly thereafter, and drove a horse and buggy to the school house. She was caught in a blizzard in 1919, and credited her horse with saving her life. The year afterwards, she moved to the city of International Falls, Minnesota, eventually saving enough from her $55/month salary to buy a Ford Model T.

Little married her husband, Homer DeWillis Little, in 1927. The couple had no children. Her husband was a post office worker, and Little herself continued to teach in various schools until her retirement in 1961. The couple enjoyed travelling, and built vacation homes in California, Arizona, and Battle Lake, Minnesota. Little was widowed in 1979 after 52 years of marriage.

After her husband’s death, Little lived independently in her Appleton home, and was active in various community activities until the age of 104, when she broke her hip in a fall, and moved into a nearby nursing home. She gave up driving as a nonagenarian.

Little claimed that the secrets to her longevity were coming from “good stock”, keeping busy, and walking and reading as much as possible. She died on 7 November 2010 at the age of 110 years, 296 days. She was survived by a niece, Mary, and a nephew, Roderick, and their descendants.