Suffolk’s newest centenarian credits her daughter for helping her live to such a ripe old age.

Catherine “Miss Kitty” Buchanan turned 100 on Tuesday. She was a Portsmouth native and lived there until her daughter, Betty Chapman, moved her to Lake Prince Woods about four years ago.

Since then, Buchanan has flourished, and so have her artistic talents. She had always enjoyed knitting and crocheting but never had been a painter until she moved to the retirement community, where she joined a weekly painting class.

As it turns out, her talent had gone undiscovered for 96 years. In 2013, she even won an honorable mention blue ribbon in a statewide art show for retirement community residents.

Many of her paintings feature birds and other animals, although she’ll also do “anything they put in front of her,” Chapman said.

Unfortunately, the painting class on Tuesday was canceled because many participants were ill, but Buchanan still was able to celebrate by sharing cake with her many friends and neighbors at Lake Prince Woods.

Buchanan wed in 1933 and was married for 62 years until her husband died in 1995. She never worked outside the home but had plenty to do there, helping to raise her younger siblings, as well as her own two children.

She frequently used her earlier discovered talents to sew clothing for her daughter.

“Anything she wanted, I’d sew it,” Buchanan said.

Chapman moved to Lake Prince Woods about 12 years ago when it opened. She chose a two-bedroom floor plan for her apartment, hoping her mother eventually would come to live with her.

But when Buchanan finally made the move, she went straight into assisted living.

She has outlived nearly her entire family besides Chapman. Two sisters and a brother predeceased her, as did her son.

“It’s kind of just an ordinary life, really,” said Chapman.

Except it isn’t. Even these days, living to be 100 is quite extraordinary.