Jenkins was born in the capital city of Baton Rouge to the late Louis E. "Ory" Jenkins, Sr., and the former Doris Laverne Rowlett (1922–2013), a native of Houston, Texas, who was reared in Shreveport and Alvin, Texas. Early in their married life, his parents operated a restaurant, Little Ory's Den in Ponchatoula in Tangipahoa Parish. Later Ory Jenkins was employed as an operator by Ethyl Corporation. Doris Jenkins worked in safety deposit at the American Bank on the Plank Road in Baton Rouge, a position from which she retired in 1982 after twenty-five years.