Mae Young, who turns 100 on Wednesday, beams when talking about her sons, her grandchildren, and the young people she met when working the snack bar at Bates College.

Her granddaughters say Mae – the mother of two, grandmother of nine, and great-grandmother of 15 – has a “magic touch” when it comes to children.

The centenarian was honored Saturday with a family birthday party. During a recent interview, Mae appeared puzzled by her longevity.

“I can’t believe I’m this old. I never thought I’d live this long,” she said with a laugh along with granddaughters Heidi Matthews of Arizona and Elaine Breau of Lewiston.

Until age 95, Young lived in her own apartment. She then moved into St. Marguerite d’Youville Pavilion in Lewiston. “I like it. The people are good here,” she said.

What’s the secret to living to 100?

She shrugged and laughed. “I don’t know.” Then she added one piece of advice: Stay busy. “I worked hard all the time. I didn’t mind it.”

She eats lightly. She never smoked. “I tried it once when I was a kid. It made me cough. That was it.”

She remembers living through the Great Depression – “That was the worst,” Mae said. She recalls the ways her plumber husband, Bernard Young, was able to earn an income. She fed her family by raising food in a family garden. “We never went without,” Mae said.

Of all her memories, her fondest are of young people.

Her two sons, Arthur and Herb, now 74 and 78, “were good boys,” she said. “They didn’t give me any trouble.” She wasn’t a strict mother. “I didn’t have to be. Every time they went somewhere, they always kissed me goodbye. I never, never knew them to lie to me.”

Raising children in an era of “spare the rod, spoil the child,” Mae was ahead of her time. She never slapped her children. She doesn’t believe in hitting children, she said. If her sons did something wrong, she’d talk to them. “I’d try to tell them why.”

She ended up raising two nephews after they were orphaned. Initially, she was worried about raising four boys. “I told them, ‘All you have to do is mind the way my boys mind.’ We got along nice. They turned out real good.”

Mae was widowed at 40 years old. After her sons were grown, “I was bored,” and began working at Bates. “I loved it. I loved the kids,” she said with a smile.

She recalled one student who told her he was going to quit school. “He was a senior. I said, ‘Are you crazy?’ “

His folks sent the boy plenty of money, “but didn’t bother with him,” Mae said. “I told him, ‘You stay and graduate and I’ll buy you a graduation present.’ “

He did. “I bought him a nice tie pin. Two years later he came back. He got married and had a little girl.”

Mae said there’s no secret to raising children. Enjoy them and spend time with them, she said. “Give them food. Take care of them.”