If Frances Dunham Catlett, an educated woman and expressive artist, were to do a self-portrait for her 100th birthday on Thursday, how would she paint herself? There are so many components to her extraordinary life that it would be difficult for her to capture them all on a single canvas. She might run out of acrylic paint first.
She prefers to paint in acrylics. The swirling shapes and ethereal scenes depicted on her large canvases take up a full room of her Berkeley apartment, confirming a mind that's still expanding as it approaches the century mark. Oh, and Catlett also bowls twice a week--bowls higher than her age, too.
Her mother was a seamstress. Her father packed China dishes and was a 'minister without a pulpit.' Catlett, the youngest of 10 children, all girls, attended cerebral University of Chicago on an academic scholarship in the 1920s. There she met her first husband, Albert Dunham, who would pursue a ph. D at Harvard. So after three years at Chicago, Catlett transferred to Boston University, where she obtained her degree. She then did postgraduate work at Howard University, where her husband was a professor. They had a son, Kaye, but Dunham incurred mental difficulties that impacted his career and his life. As a "safety valve," a grieving Catlett immersed herself in poetry for five years, and she has continued writing poems periodically throughout her life. Frances Catlett takes pride in her acrylic panting's seen at her Berkeley apartment. the artist is turning 100 Thursday.

Dave Newhouse of the Oakland Tribune is the author of this story, a veteran reporter of many years in the northern California area. Dave Newhouse's columns appear Monday, Thursday and Sunday, usually on the Metro page. Know any Good Neighbors? Phone 510-208-6466 or e-mail dnewhouse@ bayareanewsgroup.com

After Dunham died, she married John Catlett to "find a father for my son." They also had a son, Michael, but the father died young from ulcers. She later married a third time, "but for one minute — I'm not going to talk about it." She was a social worker for years before earning a master's degree in social work from UC Berkeley in 1948. The year before, she became the first African American to receive a degree — a master's in art — from Mills College. She describes herself as a "colorist" and has had 60 exhibits of her artwork. But for all that she has accomplished in life, Catlett doesn't see herself as remarkable.
"Doesn't everybody?" she said. "I haven't thought about it. I can't see how I could be any different, unless I became ill. And, evidently, I have not become that kind of ill."
She survived colon cancer at 80. Her mind seems like 40. She does crosswords, plays Scrabble, and reads the newspaper — "I read all the time, anything I can get my hands on." She likes golf — "I love Tiger Woods" — and baseball; a San Francisco Giants-Colorado Rockies game was on her television set during this June 12 interview. She's as involved in life as ever.
"It's very interesting," she said. "It's changing. I think the United States has lost its culture; it's money crazy. They talk about more money for teachers — of course they should, these children are going to be our future. I hope whoever becomes president can change it. I cross my fingers that it's (Barack) Obama."
She feels children spend too much time watching TV. She worries that America is losing its small­town feeling. And she's upset with how this country treats its black citizens. She has 100 years of memories. Her favorite president is Franklin Delano Roosevelt "because I liked everything (his wife Eleanor) did." As for a favorite public figure, it's theologian Howard Thurman.
Her favorite invention is the automobile, which replaced "the two horse-drawn wagons — one for ice, the other for vegetables — that used to come on my street in Hartford, Conn."
She has visited India, Spain, France, Italy, Morocco, England, Jamaica, Cuba, Singapore and the Virgin Islands, "but when I saw China, I felt I didn't need to see anything else."
She has outlived one son, Michael, who died in February at 64. The other son, Kaye, 75, is a poet and lyricist. She has one great-great-grandchild.
Catlett lives at Strawberry Creek Lodge, which will celebrate her turning 100 on Thursday. That's fine with her; it's also a bowling day. She rolled a 127 before this interview. Getting old, she said, has made her more patient. Possibly more creative, too. Listen to how she envisions her last day on Earth.
"I'd like to have a big party," she said, "hear the drums, get up and dance, and then die, not knowing I'm dying."
She must paint that scene.