Jay Cochennic was born in Golden Meadow to a bar owner and his wife, a jewelry shop proprietress. He grew up living behind the bar and remembers every Saturday night listening to oilfield workers, shrimpers and oystermen fighting. He spent summers working for Exxon and Brown and Root while in high school. He was in the Air Force for six years and was trained in Radar. He got out of the service, returned to Louisiana, and almost immediately got a job at Schlumberger. He felt that he was well trained to work there because of all his technology training in the military. Schlumberger was a very technology-oriented business and invented many oil field tools. Jay worked his way up to an electronics technician and retired in 1997.