Theresa Mensah was born on Wednesday 25 October 1934 in Kumasi. She was born to the late Joseph Henry Mensah Snr (aka Paapa), a colonial civil servant who hailed from Elmina, and Rose Mensah (née Maame Abena Tabuaa), the daughter of the Banmuhene of Sunyani Domase, Nana Kofi Amoah, and Obaapanyin Yaa Donkor. Maame sold textiles supplied by the United African Company. Theresa – or Aba, as she was popularly known – was the seventh of the ten children born to the couple who survived to adulthood.
The family settled in a large house in the Adum business district of Kumasi. They spoke Fante at home and were devout Catholics. The family was close-knit, so she grew up supported and surrounded by love.
Theresa started her primary schooling at St Benedict’s and continued at Our Lady of Apostles (OLA) girls’ boarding school in the Volta Region. During the holidays, she and some of her siblings would visit their eldest sister, Grace Quist-Arcton, a senior educationist who lived in Tamale with her husband, Edward A Quist-Arcton.
Theresa had an ear for languages and learned Ewe and Hausa, in addition to the Twi, Fante and English that she spoke flawlessly. After Standard 7, she declined to complete the forms that would have allowed her to continue her education at OLA. She stuck to her decision even though her eldest brother, J H Mensah Jnr (aka Brother Abew), to whom she was close, encouraged her to pursue academic study.
Brother Abew helped his sister with all the forms, including her passport application. The passport arrived late, when the nursing course had already started, and her brother noticed officials had made an error with her date of birth. He pointed it out but Aba refused to delay her trip further and the mistake became her official date of birth.
Before continuing her studies in Oxford, she attended a Republic Day dance in London with a friend.
John Agyekum Kufuor had set his heart on working in the public service and he wanted to find a Ghanaian woman to support him in that career. He asked to change partners on the dance floor and introduced himself to Theresa. They became friends. They later saw each other in Oxford and renewed their acquaintance.
The following year, during a trip to Ghana to register for the Ghana Bar, John Kufuor told his mother about his friendship with Aba. His mother knew of the Mensah family, so she told him to take a bottle of schnapps to Okyeso, the Mensah family home, by way of an introduction. John was accompanied by a relative. At Okyeso, they saw Maame and her senior brother, Master Buahin, who recognised John from his time at Government Boys’ School. J H Mensah Snr (aka Paapa) was cordial and accepted the bottle of schnapps, but unfortunately he died within a couple of weeks.
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