Del Mar racetrack
Harris was born Jean Mahoney in Mesquite, Texas. Harris and her family moved to California after her father, who was a sports columnist for a newspaper in Texas, was hired as a public relations manager for the Del Mar racetrack, in Del Mar, California. Harris met her husband Ed Harris, an engineer, while in high school and they married when Harris was 18 years old. After marrying, Jean and Ed had three children; Timm, Ellen, and Brian. Harris moved from the San Fernando Valley to Oxnard in the early 1970s. She had a master's degree in Education and was a career schoolteacher and later a school board member for the Oxnard Board of Education for nine years.