The Little Girl from 311 Travis Street

Book excerpt: Dorothy Jensen tells the story of her humble beginnings as Dorothy Zimmerman in Wichita Falls, Texas, where she grew up with her mother Pearl, her sister Lavona, and her brother Leo. After high school, she worked at Perkins-Timberlake Department store in the credit department. One year, she and a co-worker took a trip together to Pike's Peak. That is when Dorothy realized how much she loved travel. In 1946, when another friend asked her to move out to San Diego, she packed her bags. That is where she met Ib Jensen. They married and she became the mother of three sons who filled her days while they traveled during Ib's military career, living in Guantanamo Bay and Okinawa, and several places in the United States. Dorothy and Ib continued to travel for pleasure to Denmark, Germany, Spain, and places far from those humble beginnings in Wichita Falls. Dorothy wrote this book at the request of her son Robert so he could share it with his children. She began the project by writing fifty-three pages and then incorporated that with several travel journals she kept over the years. Dorothy also has hundreds of slides to go along with these memories.