Uncrowned Community Builders

Thelma V. Reed is the mother of Ishmael Reed. She is the daughter of the late Mack Hopkins and Emma Hopkins Lewis. She graduated from Newton Normal Presbyterian Church School.

In Buffalo she was a faithful and active member of the Zodiac Club, the Busy Bee Club and the Ideal Club at her church. She was also an active member of the YMCA on William and Emslie Street until her health failed.

She started writing at the age of 74 and completed her first book at the age of 85. Author of "Black Girl from Tannery Flat" was the memoir of her life written in her Golden years. Born with "second sight" and the gift of prophecy in 1917 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, she moved to Buffalo, New York, as part of the black migration from the south to the north where, it was felt, better opportunities might be had. She worked as a domestic, a salesperson, and became the caretaker for elderly members of her family, including her mother-in-law who was afflicted with Alzheimer's disease for 17 years. She was married to Bennie S. Reed, an auto worker.

As an example of her persistence and will, two heart attacks did not deter Thelma V. Reed for completing her book. At an early age, she was put upon by tragedies that would have emotionally crippled others. Her father was murdered and her mother suffered from schizophrenia. An extraordinary child, she dealt with both crosses with a skillfulness that one wouldn't expect from a person of her years. Barely out of her teens, she was sexually assaulted and found herself stranded as a single mother. She didn't abandon her child and withstood the condemnation that came with single motherhood in the 1930's and 40's. She is survived by four children, six grand-children, ten great-grandchildren and one loving special person named Barbara Purifoy..