Uncrowned Community Builders

Born and raised in the city of Buffalo, the eldest daughter of Emanuel and Lillie Humes (now of Los Angeles, California) was brought up in a very musical home. All five of the Humes children took piano lessons and as teenagers formed a family gospel singing group. Lillie Humes sang and played piano for the church her husband Emanuel pastored when the children were growing up. At home, the family enjoyed all types of music.

Theresa attended local schools P.S. #39 (now Martin Luther King), Woodlawn Junior High School and East High School. She has sung in school and church choirs since the 6 th grade, but in high school her love of classical music began to flourish. Under the direction of the late Donald L. Hilliard she sang with the East High School Chorus and it's small ensembles at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York; Rutgers University in New Jersey; and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the batons of Lukas Foss and Michael Tilson Thomas.

She continued to develop her voice by taking private lessons throughout high school with the late Miss Marie Mohr and later in college at Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music in Ohio and the University of Buffalo. Theresa is a mezzo-soprano.

Theresa was married in 1975 and gave birth to her only child Walidah in 1976. With the demands of a young family and eventual single parenting, her dream was set-aside for a time. In 1992, as luck would have it, Ellen Kennedy heard Theresa perform at a political function and introduced Theresa to Tim Kennedy, her husband. Tim Kennedy became her voice teacher and later vocal coach, mentor and friend.

Under Tim's direction Theresa has sung many times for his company, Buffalo Opera Unlimited, in such productions as: Remembering Marion Anderson, A Tribute to Duke Ellington, the opera Susanna, 100 years of Broadway and A Tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein. In addition she has sung the role of Queenie in Art Parkââ?¬â?¢s production of Showboat (2000). Most recently she was a featured soloist with the Lincoln Memorial Senior Choir in Honoring the American Spiritual.
She is the mother of Walidah Smith and the grandmother of Brianna Harris and Alexis Smith. Theresa works currently as a teacherââ?¬â?¢s assistant at the Martin Luther King School and has been with the Buffalo Board of Education for twelve years.