Jeanette "Jean" M. Crooks (née Mactaggart) was born May 20, 1924, in Richmond, California. Jean married Lawrence on August 8, 1947, and had two children: James Lawrence and Kathryn Jean. Lawrence Crooks works for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

Crooks obtained a bachelor of arts the the University of California located in Berkeley, California; she also took one year of teacher training at California State at Hayward.

Crooks is a teacher and substitute teacher in Oakland, California and Las Vegas, Nevada.