Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Thibodaux, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Jean Landry works for the Nature Conservancy and is an active member of many southern Louisiana organizations and civic boards. She was recommended to us as an excellent point of contact for Grand Isle and helped us identify and arrange interviews with people from the island. However, she had never herself been interviewed. I called her and explained that I was interested in interviewing her and she agreed. We met at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux.

Sylvia Jean Baugh Landry was born in Arkadia, Florida. Her father was a drilling roustabout until 1963 when he went into business for himself running B & J Wireline. From age 2 to 15, Jean and her family moved from place to place in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. She moved to Grand Isle, Louisiana in 1962 and remained there to this day. When her father started his company, her mother went to work for him as a bookkeeper and Jean helped in the office. Jean graduated from high school and realized she wanted more education, so she enrolled at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux where she studied secretarial services. She met her husband when he was home on leave getting ready to go to Korea. They married when he returned. Jean's husband worked first as a drilling roustabout and then got a job with Continental Oil Company; he worked a 7 and 7 schedule for 15 years. The couple had and raised four children. They also started a diesel rental business and developed a trailer park, both of which Jean managed when her husband was offshore. In 1980 Jean went to work for an optometrist, then for the Grand Isle Tourist Commission, and finally as manager for the Nature Conservancy.