Jean Anne was born January 1, 1959 the youngest of five children and the only girl of Marguerite and Walter Tuzeneu. For the first few years of her life she shared a bedroom with her two younger brothers, Kenard Joseph and Paul-Leon. Then when the family added the garage and addition to the house, she got her own room; her Mom and Dad took the new addition, and Kenard and Paul-Leon stayed in their ‘old’ bedroom.

She always thought she was outnumbered and felt that she had to stand up on her own. She kind of felt picked on. Most likely it was not that her four brothers were rough on her, but rather that they expressed their love through teasing. The Tuzeneu’s were a close knit family, but not demonstrative with their feelings. There were two incidents that kind of explains this. First there were times that two of the brothers were playing some kind of game or activity, and of course Jean Anne would want to play. Well, Stephen Edward often would say in reply to her request, “Only two can play!” The second situation reinforces the concept that she felt that she had to stand up on her own. There were times that she felt frustrated with all this’ brotherly teasing’ and would complain to her Mom. A few times her Mom would relay this story to Jean Anne about her situation. When growing up in the 1960’s, there was the ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’ cartoon show on television. One of the cartoons that aired was about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In the cartoon there was this central female character named, Nelly, who was always getting accosted by some villain. She would try to solicit the help of her Royal Mounted Police ‘beaus’ to save her from the villains. Meantime as she was waiting for their help, she would be hitting and punching the villains, but would say, “Help Tom! Help Dick! Help Harry!” When Jean Anne was commiserating to her Mom about her brother’s teasing, her Mom would point this analogy of Jean Anne to Nelly as if to say it’s not that bad you’re handling it fine.

Jean Anne graduated from Shore Regional High School, as the family all did, in 1977. She went on to attend Monmouth College, now Monmouth University, and received her BS degree in biology in 1981. She was the fifth of the Tuzeneu children to attend Monmouth. She as well as Kenard Joseph and Paul-Leon all attended on a full trustee scholarship. On the day of her commencement the master of ceremony said something to effect that this is the end of an era with the last of the Tuzeneu children graduating from Monmouth University. She got employed with the Long Branch Sewerage authority, and while working, she attended Georgian Court University graduate studies at night and got her MS degree in biology in 1998. She had an illustrative career of over thirty years working in the labs of three regional sewerage authorities -- first with the Long Branch Sewerage Authority. Then she moved onto Two Rivers Regional Sewerage Authority in Monmouth Beach and worked there for seventeen and half years before taking a position with The Rahway Sewerage Authority in 2004 working there for eleven years and counting.

Although Jean Anne had an accomplished career, that was not her only accomplishments. She, also, developed her musical talents which she got from her Mom. In 1966 she started ballet lessons with the Marjory Carroll School of Ballet and pursued this interest for over forty years only stopping until recently. She sang in the Shore Regional High School choir, but she had the impression that during her high school career someone noted that she did not have a good voice. However, in 1980 to 1981 she started singing as she was encouraged by Maureen Quigley and especially by Father Joe, chaplain at Monmouth College now Monmouth University and pastor of Star of the Sea Church currently called Christ the King Church. At that time she started singing at Star of the Sea Church, Long Branch (now Christ the King Church) and the Neumann Center at Monmouth University. During 1995 to 1996 she began singing at the Church of the Ascension in Bradley Beach. At that time she took voice lessons for nine years. She continues to sing at Sunday masses and various church functions.

Who originated this anecdotal saying of the family is not clear, but it seems to be associated with Jean Anne. It’s amusing and they laugh at it as they recall it. It occurred on one of their camping trips in the 1960’s. At the time they graduated from tent camping and was using a pop-up trailer tent. It was not anything very elaborate, but simply a trailer that ‘popped up’ into a tent. There were no cooking or bathroom facilities just a place to sleep. Well, the sleeping arrangements were as follows. Her Mom and Dad would sleep on the right sideboard while James Anthony and Stephen Edward would sleep on the left sideboard. As Kenard Joseph, Paul-Leon, and Jean Anne were younger and smaller, they were able to sleep in the bottom portion sideways. It was quite comfortable and cozy. On more than one occasion as they were settling down to go to sleep one of those three would remark in almost a singing voice, “The Twinkly Toes; The Twinkly Toes; you might get affected by The Twinkly Toes!” This also brings to mind the ‘flashlight game’ they used to play as they were going to sleep in the tent or tent trailer. They would each take turns spelling out words on the top of the tent with the flashlight for the others to guess. The words were usually associated with various towns or sightseeing tours that they had just passed through during that day’s travel. When her Mom had figured that they had enough and it was time to go to sleep, she would spell with the flashlight on the tent ceiling, “Good Night!”