Birth at Angola

I was born on February 19 1943 in Angola Louisiana. If you're not from Louisiana, that may seem like no big deal. However, when I tell people from Louisiana where I was born, they always react with some sign of shock. That's because they know that Angola is the notorious state penitentiary - and it's in the middle of nowhere, so there's no town of Angola. If you were born in Angola, you were born in the state pen. Usually, people don't want to embarrass me by asking why, so they just change the subject.

I was born during World War II, and my father (John Alexander Jensen) was overseas defending the country. During this time, my mother (Barbara Eileen Bolin Jensen) went to live with her parents (Dayton Cornelius Bolin and Emma Nettie "Det" Jackson Bolin).

Daddy in uniform

My grandfather was one of the first recipients of a degree in sugar engineering from LSU, which basically taught you to run a sugar cane factory, which converts sugar cane from the field into raw sugar which can be refined there or sent to a refinery. (I checked the LSU website and this degree is still offered, although as a minor under Biological and Agricultural Engineering.) This degree and experience allowed them to live in several tropical paradises, like South America, Cuba, the Virgin Islands, and South Louisiana.

Angola is on 18,000 acres about 60 miles north of Baton Rouge. Because it is surrounded on three sides by the Mississippi River, which would occasionally flood the land, it is some of the finest farming land in the South. In 1943, it was a huge sugar cane plantation. I say plantation because it was run very much like an antebellum plantation, where the prisoners served as the slaves. It was the only state prison in the country that made a profit for the state. Almost everything they needed was produced there, but the sugar cane made the money. My grandfather was in charge of the sugar cane factory there, and he and my grandmother lived on the grounds in a rather fine house, waited on by slaves (prisoners). Other than being isolated, it was a pretty nice life.

I was born in my grandparents' house. There was a doctor in attendance, but he didn't have much experience delivering babies. Needless to say, a baby was a big deal there, and I was lavished with attention by the entire population. I still have a bookcase that was made especially for me by one of the prisoners. I was referred to by all the inmates as "Miss Baby". My grandmother called me "Little Princess", which she did for the rest of her life. I lived in this royal atmosphere for three years. Many people say this early experience explains a lot about my personality!

Aren't I cute?

They say that when my father came back, I refused to let him sleep with my mother. After all, he was a total stranger. Apparently, I was not happy at all when I had to leave Angola. Later, when I became a grandmother, I appreciated how horrible it must have been for my grandparents to have me leave, after living with them for three years.