A. Dobie Jenkins Papers

A. Dobie Jenkins was born in Norwalk, Connecticut on November 17, 1936 to Iredell Jenkins and Lawson Cook Jenkins. He was raised in Louisiana, Connecticut, and Alabama. He attended Reed College and the University of Alabama, graduating in 1961 with a B.A. in history and political science. Jenkins served in the U.S. Army as a translator-interpreter following training in Korean and Japanese at the Army Language School in Monterey, California (1957-1959). He attended Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley (1961-1964) under the Woodrow Wilson and Ford Foundation Fellowships. He was awarded a M.A. in public policy and land use planning in 1966. He was a legislative intern with the California Assembly from 1962-1963.

Jenkins married Ann Cureton Bradshaw in December 1962 and has two sons, Anthony and Stewart born 1966 and 1967 respectively.

Jenkins was a legislative consultant for various California Assembly committees from 1965-1971, focusing on regulation of businesses and professions, civil rights, conservation and the environment. He was a field representative to U.S. Senator Alan Cranston, 1971-1972, then legislative analyst with the Office of the President of the University of California, 1972-1975. He lived abroad with his family from 1975-1976. From 1977-1985 Jenkins was a research regulations administrator for the Berkeley campus and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory of the University of California.

Jenkins was self-employed in real estate and travel businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1986-2000. He has been semi-retired since 2000 residing in Watsonville, California where he has served on the city Library Trustees Board and the 2005 General Plan Steering Committee. He is active in hiking, arts and history groups in Santa Cruz County and is the founder of the Monterey Bay Hiking Club.